Nightspark
by DracinaStormsailor
Summary: What would have happened if the Autobots never went after the Allspark and now the fate of their entire race lies on the shoulders of the youngest...Bumblebee. Pairings later on.
1. To Be An Autobot

**_REWRITTEN! _**

Hello All...Here is my shot at my first fanfic ever! Review to your heart's content. I hope every one likes it and I am more than open to suggestions for ideas or directions the story should take.

Ok, to get this started, I do not in any way own Transformers Animated or so on and so forth. As much as I would like to...it's just not gonna happen.

This fic is a blend of ideas from two other authors and my own. I strongly recommend Cover Me by BlackDragonQueen and all stories written by Karategal. Karategal's stories Sparkling and Youngling are the background of this story so it would help with understanding the setting and I promise the stories are good.

A heads up. It's been forever since I have seen the Transformers cartoon so most of these characters will be OoC, so bear with me, and I'm sure I might mess up on a few topics. Help on this problem will be gladly recieved.

In a nut shell, this is my version of a what if? What if Cyberton's history had taken a different turn? What if they never went off to find the Allspark and came to Earth? What if they were stuck in their universe forever at war? What if the one hope to the survival of their race rested on the youngest of them, Bumblebee?

Let me know what you think.

* * *

Bumblebee sighed when he saw Ironhide headed his way. There was no getting out of this one.

"Bumblebee!" he bellowed, his voice booming and announcing his terrifying presence to those that didn't yet realize the weapon specialist was on the firing range.

Sunstreaker looked between the two mechs for a moment before stepping up in front of Bumblebee in an attempt to shield the youngling from yet another angry lecture.

"Get out of my way Sunstreaker," Ironhide growled, trying to forcefully push past the twin.

"Not till you calm down. He doesn't need you blowing another gasket over nothing," Sunstreaker said, pushing a finger hard against Ironhide's chest. He was only doing what he thought best to protect Bumblebee from Ironhide's anger like any other mech aboard the Artemis would do, but every soldier aboard the ship knew the weapon specialist's temper was not to be taken lightly and more than a few had been subjected to his wrath and ended up in Rachet's med bay.

"Sunny, it's alright," Bumblebee said emerging from behind the Autobot attempting to help and laid a hand on the golden mech's arm giving him a obvious sign to not push it this time.

Ironhide paused at the motion as he realized Bumblebee wasn't letting anyone fight his battles yet still didn't help to suppress the black mech's anger.

"Come, with me now," Ironhide growled, grabbing Bumblebee by the back of his neck and leading him away from Sunstreaker and most likey back to their room. Along the way Bumblebee met many sympathetic looks, yet none dared get in the way of an angry Ironhide.

After vorns of begging Rachet, Bumblebee had gotten his final frame and adjustments and was ready to learn to fight. He knew that if he had been in the youth sectors it would have been countless vorns before he could ever lay optics upon a weapon but Bumblebee wasn't at a youth sector. He was on a battleship surrouned by soldiers in the middle of a never-ending war. He was a child or war and even children of war needed to fight or else what future would he have? Meanwhile, Ironhide, his overly protective guardian, did all he could to keep Bumblebee away from those that jumped at the opportunity to teach their dear youngling defense. Sunstreaker, one of the few mech that found it his job to protect Bumblebee, didn't agree with the older mech. The weapon specialist felt that his charge just needed to become accustom to being defended by others while Sunstreaker believed that even if Bumblebee were protected from all sides he should still learn how to fight. Nothing was foolproof and there might be one orn when the youngling would find himself undefended without an Autobot in reach to protect him. Still, despite the majority of the mechs aboard the ship wanting the youngling to learn Ironhide refused to listen to their reason and they had no choice but to back down when their CMO stepped up and gave him full support in sheltering Bumblebee.

"Ironhide!" Optimus yelled, changing his intended direction when he saw what was now becoming a common scene in the hallways of the battleship.

Muttering a curse, Ironhide turned to face his leader, Bumblebee forced to spin around with him locked in his guardian's grip still.

"Let the boy go," Optimus said wearily. It had been clear recently that the leader of the Autobots' patience was wearing dangerously thin when it came to his weapon specialist.

"He was out on the firing range again! I cannot have him risking his life every time I look away! Not to mention the others disregarding a direct order!" Ironhide argued, refusing to listen to the reason Optimus would soon tell him.

Wincing at the tightening grip on the back of his neck, Bumblebee watched silently as the two mechs argued back and forth. However, Optimus saw the youngling's brief grimace of pain and knew he needed to calm the enraged guardian down before Ironhide did something he would regret.

"He was training Ironhide. It's time you've come to accept that," Optimus said, hoping that this time logic would pierce the black mech's thick processor.

"He can't. He's still too young. He just barely got his new frame."

"It doesn't matter. Bumblebee has been through more than any other youngling would have normally dealt with at his age. Instead of giving him the option to be able to defend himself you would rather he come running to you whenever there is danger. What help is that to him? What if there is a Decepticon between you two?" Ironhide optics narrowed dangerously at his commander's words but the Autobot commander continued on without pause, "Don't think it hasn't crossed my processor to order a restraint against you being around Bee, but I haven't only because despite all that you've done to him, he still wants you as his guardian."

Shaking his head, Ironhide stepped back while Bumblebee pulled forward and free of the weakened grip.

"Fine. He's not my responsibility any more," Ironhide said after a moment of studying his commander before walking away.

"What? No!" Bumblebee exclaimed in fear when his much loved guardian's words finally sunk in.

Optimus stood rooted to the spot for a klick or two as his processor took a moment to grasp what the mech had just said. However the crushed look on the youngling's face hurt his spark as the small mech watched his guardian abandon him.

"Come here Bumblebee," he said and frowned as it seemed Bumblebee hadn't heard him at all frozen in place still staring down the empty hallway where Ironhide had been only moments ago and still accepting Bumblebee as his charge. The black mech's words had broken something deep within the youngling as he finally turned and gave Optimus a blank, emotionless stare. Hoping Bumblebee would recover he walked over to him and began to say something until an explosion rocked the ship and threw him into the wall. Quickly scrambling up he found the yellow mech still standing but obviously free from his shock and looking around wondering what was going on until another shudder ran through the ship knocking them both to the floor this time.

"Report!" Optimus yelled into his comm while moving over to the youngling and checking to make sure he was unharmed.

_"Decepticon attack at the south sector near the labs. Looks like they're going for the research again," _Red Alert answered immediately.

"Alright, Bee, get to your room and stay there. I'll come get you after this is done."

With a quick nod the youngling sprinted away. He might be training but he was far from a real battle yet especially when he was built for stealth, not force like Sunstreaker or Ironhide. Rounding another corner, Bumblebee was close to his and Ironhide's room when suddenly he found himself thrown into the wall by another explosion that tore through the hallway beside him. Looking up he stiffened as his optics searched past the lingering dust and saw Starscream standing in the newly created entrance.

"My. Haven't you grown," the Decepticon chuckled once he noticed the youngling at his feet and raised his cannon slowly.

Processor screaming at him to run for cover Bumblebee instead stood slowly causing the seeker to hesitate.

"Can't say the same for you although you still look a bit more banged up Slag Head. I guess Megatron has his optics on other Cons," he taunted watching the Decepticon's expression grow heated with fury.

"Fraggin Autobot!" Starscream yelled and fired but the nimble mech had already jumped away from harm, tumbling behind the Con and jumping up, his fingers going to work quickly at the con's sensitive wiring that was hidden beneath back plates. Bumblebee found that the best thing about spending time with Rachet was that the medic had qualms about teaching Bumblebee secrets of the trade and how to knock down mechs both quickly and effectively. Also the CMO had withheld the secrets of how to deactivate a mech and instead taught him a few simple paralyzing techniques, or the youngling's favorite, the advanced advantages such as taking optics offline or messing with weapon capabilities. Little did the medic know that the innocent lessons would now be key in saving Bumblebee's life.

"Get off me!" Starscream screetched claws frantically grabbing and reaching back in a desperate attempt to rip the yellow mech off, but Bumblebee was far too small for him to reach behind the much larger frame and it was only a breem later the Con hit the ground hard and offline.

"Piece of slag," Bumblebee growled and kicked the Decepticon for good measure as he darted away and put his skills to use keeping to the shadows, staying silent, and down low as he continued on.

Only a few more hallways closer to his room, Bumblebee heard fighting and yelling to his left. Going against good logic and Optimus' order he redirected his route and quickly approached the noise to see Blur and Sunstreaker pinned down by three large Cons he was unfamiliar with. Giving himself only a moment to watch the scene he darted to Blur's side. At the moment the odds were not in their favor and there was no way he would leave them on their own.

"Bee!" Blur yelped in surprise, when a small yellow mech appeared at his side, firing off his cannon rapidly in succession at the Decepticons before dropping back down under cover, "Whatareyoudoinghere! Hide?"

"I couldn't just leave you guys on your own. Beside my room is just over there. How safe will I be when the fight reaches there?" Bumblebee argued, ignoring the question as to where his ever present guardian was.

Sunstreaker and Blur exchanged quick looks. They did understand what the youngling was saying but it didn't ease the fear both held as various and possible scenarios ran through their processors should they fail. Still, despite what could happen they both knew it would be impossible to get bumblebee to leave them and had no choice but to agree and with a determined not to eachother they continued the fight.

However, it wasn't long before the battle took a turn for the worst.

Pausing his firing to allow Blur to move up, Bumblebee noticed movement behind them. Without even giving himself a moment to think, he jumped the approaching Decepticon that had Blur's back in view. The second hidden Decepticon that the youngling had failed to noticed managed to cry out an alarm but it wasn't fast enough as the two Cybertronians collided.

Bumblebee thanked Primus for the hand to hand combat Sunstreaker had been teaching him since before he had even gotten his latest frame as now he could finally put it to use and defend himself. Still, no amount of training was enough to really help out his small frame against such bulk. He could try and use speed against the Decepticon but even that would only last so long. Instead, the Decepticon sneak solved the youngling's dilemma for him as a razor sharp blade slipped out his arm. Bumblebee stepped back with a curse but his frame responded with the same, his own dualing blade sliding forth. Only a brief moment of hesitation could be noted between them before they crash together again, hacking, slashing, thrusting for vital areas that would bring even season harden mechs down. The only trick was that it required an actual hit to be of any effect. Bumblebee managed a few small scrapes to his opponent, but had not been able to succeed in drawing any amount of energon from the Decepticon instead giving the opposing mech the opportunity to sever a secondary line in his blade free arm. Energon leaking down Bumblebee's side, the youngling pressed the injured arm tightly to his frame and reassessed the situation, wondering how to proceed in his condition. While it wasn't his sparing arm, the waves of pain he was unaccustom to was hindering his ability to concentrate and he knew he was in trouble. Behind him his two friends still fought now having to fend off four Decepticons while trying to watch his battle from the corner of their optics.

Breaking off his continuous fire at the four mechs infront of him, Sunstreaker quickly whirled around and placed a well-aimmed shot at the second Decepticon sneak that was still behind them before turning his full attention back upon those in front of them. As Blur and the golden mech continued on with renewed determination to narrow the Decepticons' numbers, they failed to notice that Sunstreaker's shot wasn't as well-placed as he believe and was slowly getting back up. The Decepticon smirked, not believing his luck as he looked at the two Bots' backs then over at the smaller mech fighting his partner. With a chuckle, the Con headed over to his partner's aid and towards the undefened backside of Bumblebee his cannon silently melding into his arm as a blade slipped out to replace the weapon.

Bumblebee gasped and looked down, optics wide in disbelief as they rested upon the long, energon drenched blade protruding out his front. Even his opponent was caught off guard but quickly took the event for granted and swiped out to finish the annoying youngling once and for all. To the surprise of the impailed mech an unknown strength rose up from deep within as it shoved the pain back and sharpened his senses. Blocking the finishing blow he knocked the blade back and with a quick stab went straight through the Con's chest instantly extinguished the delicate spark within. The next klick he jerked forward as the mech behind him wrench the blade free of Bumblebee's back and decided it was time to finish this youngling once and for all but even he couldn't match the newfound fury and suddenly found himself on a fast-track route to the matrix as he laid on the ground, hands groping at his neck desperately to keep the lifefueling energon from draining out. With not even a pause of hesitation, Bumblebee transformed his arm back into his cannon and spun around on the balls of his feet aiming with impossible precision and with a single shot dropped the last remaining Decepticon in the hall. The two older mechs still crouched behind their shields in shock until turning slowly and looking for the source of the shot and nearly fell over when they saw only the youngling standing with two deactivated mechs at his feet.

But quickly they shook off the surprise and finally saw the condition Bumblebee was in.

"Bee!" Blur yelled as he took in the energon-drenched mech and gaping wound in the youngling's side. With the amount of energon leaking out and coating the small mech, it was a sure guess of the other two to believe the attack had probably severed Bumblebee's energon reserves. It was a grave wound for even the toughest of mechs and the two Autobots knew it. They shared a troubled look.

His cannon still raised, Bumblebee still seemed battle ready but slowly he finally blinked his optics and swayed, confusion spreading across his face. Looking down at himself in shock he toppled and nearly fell but Sunstreaker rushed up and caught him before he could hit the ground.

"Bee, oh Primus. He needs Rachet immediately. Get him on the comm," Sunstreaker told Blur, lifting the small bot in his arms easily.

"Rachet. I/have/a/Bot/in/urgent/need/of/care. Critical/condition," Blur called to Ratchet quickly almost running his words to fast together it had a hum to it.

_"I can't. I'm with Optimus, we're pinned down. The other medics are scattered around, try finding one of them," _Rachet responded, sounding frustrated.

"He/needs/help/now,Rachet! Can't/you/meet/us/in/the/middle? ."

_"Primus!" _Rachet cursed,_ "What is wrong? Who is it?"_

"Bumblebee. He's got severe injuries. It looks like his energon reserves have been severed and one of his primary lines is cut as well. He's lost too much energon already," Sunstreaker answered instead, surprisingly cutting off the speedster before he could reply.

_"Get to my med bay immediately. We'll try and get out soon. Just keep him conscious."_

Blur clicked his comm off and they darted down the hallway headed straight toward Rachet's med bay. Yet, with only a few turns and hallways to go they skidded to a halt when they saw a Decepticon waiting in the middle of the hallway.

Megatron.

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Reviews are much appricated.


	2. Megatron's Promise

This chapter was one of the harder ones I've had to write so I'm not so sure about it.

I promise there will be pairings coming but not for a few chapters so bear with me. All this is part of the developement to get to the juicy part of the story.

Again, any help or pointers you have would be taken gladly. Again, I am open to ideas as to what you guys like and will definatly look at each idea present to me.

So here we go, Chapter 2!

* * *

Optics flickering in surprise, the Decepticon leader regarded the three Autobots frozen before him. He hadn't been waiting for them.

Blur was the first to break out of the surprise and darted infront of Sunstreaker to block Bumblebee from the Con's optics. Sunstreaker tightened his grip when he realized why Blur was trying to hide them. The past encounters between the youngling in his arms and Megatron never went over well. The Decepticon leader regarded their actions curiously before jerking as if stung. He could feel a familiar presence that was not Optimus Prime. An evil smile slowly crossed his face when he knew now what the two Autobots were shielding from him.

"Give the bot to me," Megatron said calmly as if expecting them to follow his order immediatly.

"Never!"

Optics filling with irritation, Megatron stepped closer and looked over Blur's shoulder at the suffering form of Bumblebee. The youngling's optics were dull and he didn't even seem to notice what was occuring around him but Bumblebee soon felt the same familiar grip on his spark and his optics flashed and brightened in response.

"Megatron?" Bumblebee asked in shock, turning his head.

"Hello little one. I see you've finally filled out your last form."

With a weak, yet, determined push Bumblebee dropped from Sunstreaker's arms and faced Megatron squarely. He took a moment to let unsteady legs adjust before heading towards the Decpticon leader ignoring the cries of fear from the two Autobot's behind him as he approaced the larger mech slowly with each step.

"You always were foolish," Megatron said as the smaller mech came upon him without fear.

"Foolish? I just took down two of your decepticons."

"With great risk to your life," Megatron reminded.

"It's nothing," he said with a shrug, giving his beaten and energon covered frame only a glance before looking back to Megatron. At the moment his condition held no more urgency than a surface scratch to him.

The only response from the decepticon was the sound of two twin blades sliding out greeted by Bumblebee's own dualing blade as his friends stood by, not knowing what to do but refusing to leave the youngling alone.

"So you will fight and you will lose and that does not fear you?" Megatron asked quietly.

"No."

Giving the small mech a long searching look, Megatron shook his head slightly and the next second his weapons vanished back from whence they came.

"Very well. Next time I'll be sure to come straight for you," he promised then without another word turned and left the three mechs standing alone in the hallway.

"What? How/did/you? I/thought/he/would/kill/you," Blur asked in amazement once they could no longer hear the echo of the Decepticon leader's heavy steps.

Bumblebee shrugged, unsure as to exactly what happened as well but was grateful it was over and turned back to the two Autobots. For a moment he stood there as a familiar sensation pressed down on him and his next step sent him falling forward as the strength he had only moments ago began to rapidly fade.

"Bee! Stay online," Sunny yelled as he ran up to steady him, yet just before they could continue, the two older mechs suddenly heard a _POP!_ followed by clinking metal and very disturbing grinding noise from within the little yellow mech. Instantly, Bumblebee collapsed, his frame curling up as he whimpered in pain while energon bubbled up from his mouth and down his chest.

Lifting the dying mech into his arms, Sunstreaker shared a terrified look with Blur before running as fast as he could towards the medbay. Blur swiftly took point ahead of him, keeping an eye out for and decepticons strays but only a breem later they had reached the medbay without contact and set Bee down on a berth.

"Bee, come on Bee. Fight," Sunstreaker begged as he watched the youngling fight to survive.

Amazingly, Bumblebee was still holding on to stay online but even he knew it wouldn't last long unless he found some anchor to hold him to the world of living. Optics darted around, searching the medbay franticly for a solid source of insurance, the youngling gasped in surprise when he saw it. Ironhide.

"Oh Bee," Ironhide groaned when he saw his beaten charge before him.

Quickly Sunstreaker gave the guardian his spot and stood by, waiting, watching, and wishing for the medics to hurry up.

"Hide," Bumblebee said, barely managing to get the whisper out past the energon he was still coughing up.

"No, don't speak," the black mech interrupted quickly to cut the youngling off from speaking further, yet despite his own strangled voice, he ran a hand soothingly over the small mech's helm to try and give him some comfort, any comfort till help arrived.

"I'm sorry," Bumblebee choked and it was a long agonizing astrosecond before the guardian could pull himself back together despite the overwhelming guilt that coursed through his frame.

"No, Bee. Don't ever blame yourself. You have NOTHING to be sorry for. It's my fault. If Sunny here hadn't taught ya you wouldn't have been able to save them."

Baby blue optics dimmed further as the youngling murmered again, "sorry."

Spark twisiting in terror, Ironhide realized his charge was fading fast towards the matrix and he was helpless to stop it. For a moment a part of him wanted to run, find the fraggin Decepticon that did this, and make him pay while the other was close to letting loose his rage and begin tearing the medbay apart. However, neither occured as suddenly, to the surprised of those present, large think energon tears fell from the tough and rugged weapon specialist's optics. No one, not a single living being had seen the seasoned warrior in such a broken state before.

"Bee, " he said quietly, bending low over his charge, "Fight, please fight. I can't live without you youngling. You make it and I promise I will train you personally."

Bumblebee gasped as the pained rushed back at him, fighting the darkness back down as he tried to hold on but with such a loss of energon, it was really only a matter of time before he did fall offline. For now, Ironhide had to settle with his charge's determined nod and a weak grin that accepted the promise. Thankfully, only a few breems later, the medbay's door slammed open as the CMO rushed in, searching around frantically for his patient. Right behind the medic, Optimus Prime went over to his two soldiers standing to the side, ready to hear just what had happened and was unaware when Rachet missed a step at the sight of the younger mech on one of his berths in such a harrowing condition. Throughout his medical career, the medic had seen some very bad injuries and life taking wounds. He also had taken it seriously to remember which were immediatly life threatening to react to it as soon as he saw it and as his optics came upon Bumblebee's damaged form, he knew that the youngling was quickly becoming one of the hardest cases he would ever treat. Also, much to the medic's surprise, he could hear that the small bot was still wheezing, his internal gears straining to work despite the futile struggle to stay alive.

"Alright," he grunted and turned to the three mechs talking quietly behind him, "I'm only going to say this once so listen up. Sunny, you and Ironhide will be guarding the door. There are still Decepticons out there and I'll be too pit-slaggin busy to stop working just to peg the walking scrap heaps in the aft. Optimus, you're going to be helping me personally, I suggest you sterilize immediately," for a moment they all stood there silently, "well what the frag are you slow afts waiting for! Git!"

Tearing his gaze away from the dying mech, Optimus headed over to the back of the medbay and did as Rachet said while Sunstreaker darted out with Ironhide quickly behind him. Blur, on the other hand, had nothing to do and remained untargeted by the CMO's order. Instead he chose to keep himself near the door incase any Decepticon strays happened to make their way in.

"Primus, this isn't good," Rachet sighed as his deft fingers worked impossibly fast to stem and close the various and numerous flows from damaged energon lines on the youngling so there was at least some chance to minize the energon loss and give Bumblebee more time.

"His reserves. They are beyond repair. We each have two just in case but Bee's have been damaged to severly. He needs a replacement," the medic murmered and continued, thinking outloud as he worked.

"The process could kill him," Optimus said with a frown as he finally moved next to the mech, waiting to be told what to do.

"He'll die without it," Rachet said, glaring up at the commander, irritated at the interruption of his thoughts, "We need our reserves but only one to function till I can get more and replace the second. I know you will want to volunteer, Optimus, but I need your help with him right now," making sure the Autobot leader understood, he barked at the remaining mech in the area that had nothing to do, "Blur!"

What's/up?"

"Get Ironhide."

Leaving only a blur of his image in the optics of the two Autobot's, Blur darted out the med bay door and Ironhide was there the next astrosecond.

"What's wrong?" Ironhide quickly asked, his optics flicking over to Bumblebee to check he was still alive.

"He needs a energon reserve replacement and you're probably the best candidate but it could risk your life as well," Rachet explained.

The weapon specialist didn't even need time to think it over and nodded.

"Stubborn aft. Well shoo! Blur will prep you. I've got slaggin more than enough work now with Bee," he said before snarling, "what the FRAGGING point of having three other slaggin medics if their uselss afts aren't even here to help!"

Over the next few breems Rachet gave instuction to Blur on what steps to take with Ironhide as he worked on keeping Bee alive simultaneously. At one point he found himself snarling Blur's instructions to Optimus and Optimus' instructions to Blur. Despite the possible repercussions, they decided the risk was worth it to correct him. With a surprise, Rachet paused for a moment to see that Bumblebee's optics were still lit up and locked onto Optimus, but he knew long ago the youngling held tremendous will power and went back to work.

"I've/done/it. He's/offline," Blur called.

"Optimus. Hold here and pinch this. I'll be back. Tell me know if anything happens," he said, guiding the commander's hands into the fragile bot's framework. Optimus did as he was told then looked back at Bee.

"Hey there. Feel any pain?" he asked softly.

A slow shake of the youngling's head and cough of more energon was his response. It wasn't exactly comforting and Optimus frowned with worry before he realize that Blur was at his side watching the youngling with a deep sadness.

"What happened?" Optimus asked.

The commander didn't realize just what he had asked and from who until Blur took a deep breath and launched into his reply with an unprecidented speed, "I/was/with/Sunny. We/heard/the/explosion/from/the/beginning/of/the/attack. When/we/went/to/go/look/they/ambused/us. Four/of/them. We/tried/to/hold/them/back/but/we/were/being/overrun/until/Bee/came/from/nowhere/and/refused/to/leave. I/didn't/see/the/two/Cons/sneaking/up. Bee/took/them/on/his/own. We/tried/to/help/but/there/were/too/many. He/did/really/good/at/first. But/it/wasn't/enough. They/double/teamed/him/and/I/thought/he/was/dead/but/suddenly/they/were. Then/after/he/killed/those/two/he/killed/the/last/one.

"Bee took down three decepticons?" Optimus asked in shock to the information instead of the realization that he understood everything Blur had just said the first time. Turn his gaze back to Bumblebee, he looked to the youngling for confirmation to the mech's story.

"Starscream," the youngling choked.

"We found him, offline," Optimus said with a nod, thinking over the scene, "He had no wounds and Rachet said it was from the work of a medic, or I guess what he taught Bee."

"I…I didn't mean…to kill…" Bee whispered, and his body shook violently as he coughed and choked on energon the next moment.

Groaning in distress at Bumblebee's pain, Optimus could do nothing to comfort the youngling with his hands still inside the little mech, desperately trying to hold him to life. Instead, he could only watch in horror as the youngling suffered, his body jerking violently as the energon stream from his mouth refused to end. His spark was weakening, fading away and Optimus let out a cry of frustration.

"Bee! No, please hold on," Optimus yelled, his own spark reaching to Bumblebee's and grabbed it tightly, holding it as close as he could. At the contact, Bumblebee's spark seemed to flare with more life but Optimus didn't risk it and held on, refusing to release the youngling's spark.

"Optimus? What's wrong?" Rachet asked, still working rapidly to get the energon reserve safely out of Ironhide. The process had to be exact since the weapon specialist had already been damaged and lost a fair amount of energon as well.

"He's fading. I feel him slipping away," Optimus said, his voice breaking as fear threatened to overwhelm him.

With a curse, Rachet worked even quicker. All he had left to do was solder the energon lines to prevent further energon loss before returning to Bumblebee. He cursed even lounder when those inside the med bay heard a shout outside followed by an explosion. The fight had reached the doors.

"Blur! Go, keep them out of here!" Rachet yelled, finishing up.

Not needing an order from Rachet, Blur was already running out of the med bay and ran into the middle of a battle between six of his fellow autobots against seven decepticons and Megatron himself.

"Hold/this/position!" Blur yelled to his compainions as he joined their side and they looked at him for explaination, "Bee/is/in/there."

His words were more than enough to refuel the weary sparks of the Autobots as they suddenly pushed their defense back into the offense with new strength and fury. No one hurt their youngling.

Half a joor into the brutal battle, Blur found himself flying backward before he slammed into the med bay's door after Megatron graced him with his presence and a one on one battle. The Autobot was no where near a worth oppenent to Megatron and was surprised he had lasted this long. With a groan he tried to stand and found he couldn't. Looking down he saw that one of his legs was twisted and mangled, the other out of joint. Blur was down for the count but he still had his cannons and raised them to aim at the approaching Decepticon leader.

"Where is my brother?" Megatron asked, bending low over Blur, pushing the pathetic cannons away.

Refusing to talk, Blur punched out instead but Megatron was quick to catch the hand in his own and with a squeeze, crushed it, making the mech cry out in pain.

"Tell me! I feel him nearby!" Megatron roared then his eyes lifted up and he smiled when he noticed the med bay, "Ah, off to comfort the little spy. I will have to give my regards."

"No!" Blur yelled but Megatron kicked him and he crumbled, offline.

Every other Autobot and Decepticon, distracted by the ferocity of the battle, never noticed the Decepticon leader entering the med bay.

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Well? I must say this chapter was a bit hard to write.

Review. Please!


	3. Family Ties

"Prime," Megatron called when he entered the surgery room and saw his Autobot brother working along side Rachet to save Bumblebee.

Hating himself for not noticing Megatron's dark presence sooner, Optimus glared silently at his brother and waited for what ever the Decepticon's next action would be.

"You are wasting valuable resources on such a pitiful thing. Why don't you let him go?" Megatron asked, truly confused as to why they were trying so hard to save a mech that was insignificant when it came to fighting. The Decepticon leader normally would not have given something so small and weak a second glance, but it did not seem the case now after the encounter in the hallway. The Decepticon leader could not deny the connection to the youngling's spark and it had forced him to pause and think rationally for a chance. Normally, Megatron couldn't break out of his anger once it started until it fully played out. Having his rage end so suddenly when he saw Bumblebee in the hallway, with Sunstreaker and Blur, had disorientated him. Megatron had been additionally surprised when he spoke calmly, rationally to Bumblebee and never fired a shot at the other two Autobots. Now he stood in Rachet's surgery room, looking down at the dieing youngling, his emotions in constant flux as he waited for one of the Autobots to give him an answer that might possibly shed light upon his internal dilemma.

However, neither Autobot answered Megatron's question knowing full well why they were putting such dedication into saving Bumblebee. They had no need for an answer and did not realize Megatron's true reason behind the questioning. For an Autobot to ask such a question gave the possibility that maybe he was in the wrong faction since the answer should have been automatically known and never requires an explanation. It was unsaid Autobot requirements that no mech was abandoned, small or large, no matter the situation. It was this single thing that clearly separated the two factions from each other.

Instead, Rachet worked in silence, giving Megatron a few hesitant glances out of the corner of his optics, fearing what the Decepticon was planning to do. Despite what the CMO had heard from the horror stories of other mechs who had been witness to those who were unfortunately at the mercy of Megatron, none of it was enough to give reason for Rachet to abandon Bumblebee unless the Decepticon himself ripped the medic Bumblebee's frame.

"Leave Megatron. You have failed your mission, there is no need to take innocent life," Optimus said, finally breaking the tense silence that had settled on them, his voice deep and commanding, and successfully hiding the same fear Rachet was clearly expressing.

Meanwhile, oblivious to the tense atmosphere from the three mechs above him, Bumblebee lay in a foggy haze of pain, only aware of Optimus' tight hold on to his spark. He had tried his best to return the favor to the Autobot leader but instead had to concentrate all the will he had to keeping Optimus' connection alive as darkness pressed down and surrounded him. Staying on the edge sharp edge of living and dieing for longer than he could tell, Bumblebee could slowly feel another presence coming closer and realized it was Megatron. Forcing his vision to come back online and focus, Bumblebee looked around at those surrounding him before his optics finally found the reason why he had done such.

A tug at his spark drew Megatron's attention away from Optimus and he looked down at Bumblebee, the confusing mixture of emotions rising up again before he could suppress it. Megatron was too focused on the youngling to realize that his quick internal fight had made its appearance on his face and Optimus and Rachet shared a brief confused look.

"Megatron," Bee said then coughed roughly, trying to speak but he couldn't get a grip on his systems quick enough and they jerked and spasmed painfully.

The two Autobots were shocked again when they watched and saw Megatron's emotions appear again this time lingering for a moment on his face before changing slowly with the Decepticon's reactions. First they saw the confusion before it melded into sorrow and finally his emotions slipped back into the hardened hate that all knew on the Decepticon leader so well.

"Maybe you are right, brother. Why should I waste my time on some thing so insignificant that will surly die anyways?"

There was no warning for Optimus and a surprised gasp slipped out when he felt a sensation he had never felt from his brother before. Megatron was lying. The Decepticon leader was actually hesitating at the thought of killing Bumblebee and seemed repulsed by such an idea. Optimus could only stand, frozen in shock, as he felt the interaction through their bond as Megatron reached out and comforted Bumblebee for a moment before his brother's spark faded back to it's dark solitude.

"Brother," Optimus said quietly speaking a title he had never again said to Megatron since before the beginning of the war.

Optics wide in surprise at his own reaction, Megatron turned his concerned gaze to Optimus. Seeing a different emotion other than hate or rage last on his brother's face for longer than an astrosecond filled Optimus with a glimmer of hope. The hope that his pleas to Primus had been answered, his brother had finally returned to him, and the war was now over.

But such hope was not possible when Megatron pressed his emotions back down, deep into his dark spark and fixed Optimus with a deadly glare and raised his powerful cannon.

Optimus could not move with Bumblebee's main line in his hands. If he released it the youngling would be drained of the last of the energon he had. There was no doubt in Optimus' mind that he was willing to give his life in exchange for Bumblebee's chance at living for a few more moments longer, possibly giving Rachet the time he needed to save him.

Highly expirenced and trained fingers worked quickly as the CMO raced against time to finish what he was doing quickly and give himself the opportunity to jump in and take Optimus' place so that Bumblebee might have a chance at living if Optimus were taken from Bumblebee's frame without a choice by Megatron's doing.

"No!" Bee cried feeling just what Megatron was planning to do, "No, please."

Looking down at the small mech, Megatron didn't move his cannon but didn't fire either, waiting for what he was going to say.

"Please, don't hurt him."

The slight lowering of Megatron's cannon shocked Optimus but he said nothing, also listening in at what Bumblebee was going to say to the Decepticon that he believed could possibly have an impact at changing Megatron's mind.

"Please, big brother, please don't hurt Optimus."

Frozen in shock, Rachet stopped working and watched what was happening, and his spark nearly failed as Megatron lowered his cannon slowly, optics locked onto Bumblebee's not seeming to notice the two Autobots anymore.

"Rachet," Optimus said gently to bring the medic out of his shock and Rachet snapped out of his surprise, quickly going back to work but jumped in alarm when Megatron was suddenly at his side, kneeling down next to Bee.

"Relax, little one. I will leave and harm no more. Rest and recover," he said quietly, his hand rubbing the youngling's sensors soothingly.

Bumblebee only whimpered in pain as his response and Megatron's body tightened at the noise.

"Who did this?" Megatron asked, his voice clearly promising a painful death to the one who hurt Bumblebee.

"Doesn't matter," Bumblebee whispered, "I killed them."

Megatron's optics flashed with surprise as he tried to process the image of the much smaller mech taking on a large ruthless Decepticon.

"I'm sorry," Bumblebee apologized quietly the next moment, his optics beginning to fade, "Starscream is still alive."

"Starscream," Megatron growled at the name.

"I'm sorry," Bee gasped and finally, after all the stress his frame had been subjected to, collapsed, falling offline for the first time since the start of the battle.

Groaning quietly, Megatron seemed to be in pain but regained control of himself and stood.

"Rest and we will meet again," the Decepticon leader whispered to the youngling but the others didn't hear his last words to Bumblebee.

Looking up from Bumblebee's still form, Megatron saw that Optimus was now concentrated on the youngling. The Autobot leader was clearly worried as he stood by and watched Rachet work against time to save Bumblebee. Taking the opportunity, Megatron slipped back out into the battle without a sound.

"Decepticons, fall back!" he yelled after closing the med bay's door, "We have completed our mission."

A the few Autobots outside the med bay looked at the Decepticon leader, horror clear on their faces after just having seen Megatron leave the room. They all knew well that in the past the Decepticon had made it his personal mission to kill Optimus or kidnap the youngling in previous encounters, both mechs who were inside the very room Megatron had just exited.

The Decepticons were more than happy to comply with their leader's orders and quickly retreated, taking their wounded with them.

"Wait out here," Sunstreaker said once the Decepticons were gone, putting his hand up as the Autobots rushed to the med bay's doors. Sunstreaker knew that if their fears of what had happened were true it wouldn't do any one any good to see such horrid sights. Quickly explaining such to his fellow companions, Sunstreaker gave Sideswipe a pat on the shoulder and entered the med bay swiftly, taking note to lock the door to prevent any from following him.

Inside it was quiet and no mech was in sight. As he moved toward one of the many curtains that served as privacy shields, Sunstreaker had to catch his balance when he slipped on a small pool of energon causing his optics widen in fear. However, he reminded himself to not jump to conclusions and continued on his way to the closest area. Pulling the curtain back he saw Ironhide, offline and badly damaged, and still covered in energon both his own and the enemy's, but the discovery gave Sunstreaker hope one mech was alive. Letting the curtain fall back into place, hiding Ironhide from view again, Sunstreaker heard a soft whirring and clicking of a mech's struggling systems coming from the back where Rachet held his surgeries. Darting into the room without a second thought, he slid to a half fearing he had found what every mech outside feared.

Rachet was leaning up against the table, head down and not moving while Optimus was slouched back in a chair his optics dark and staring up at the ceiling. Between them, Bumblebee was laying on the energon soaked table unmoving, optics also dark. However, before Sunstreaker could rush away as a sickening feeling creeped into him, Optimus lifted his head and his optics flickered back on to look at the new entry.

"Optimus, sir?" Sunstreaker asked, fearing to look at Bumblebee's and Rachet's still forms.

"Hello Sunstreaker. Is it over?" he asked, tiredly.

"Yes. Megatron left saying he had completed his mission and we all feared the worst. Is…is Bee…Rachet?" he finally managed to voice.

Looking over at the small mech before answering, Optimus turned back to Sunstreaker and gave his soldier a small smile. Then Sunstreaker realized that the sounds he had heard earlier were coming from the mech on the table. Rachet lifted his head and smiled at Sunstreaker too, causing the Autobot to jump in shock. He had been sure that there would have been some sort of horrible discovery after the Decepticon leader's departure from the med bay.

"It was close," Rachet said, "Very close but he's fine at the moment. Still in critical condition and needs to be watched closely for the new few orons but if Bumblebee could survive what most older seasoned mechs could not then I believe he is in for a full, yet long recovery."

Knees buckling with relief, Sunstreaker sighed and let the tension flow out of his frame.

"Go tell the others he will be fine and that Ironhide is out of commission for a few orns as well and needs a replacement. Don't let anyone in. They don't need to see him like this," Optimus said.

Sunstreaker nodded, knowing the sight of what the decepticons did to the youngling sickened him and made him want to rush out and hunt them all down, and some mechs would not have the will power to resist.

The mechs jumped back from the doors as he exited and many were relieved at the smile on his face.

"They are fine. Bumblebee pulled though but will need a long recovery. Optimus needs someone to step up to Ironhide's job. He's out for a few orns."

"Can we go in?" Sideswipe asked his twin.

Sunstreaker shook his head.

"No…you…you don't want to see him like that," he said quietly to the mechs and their sparks twisted painfully at the thought of what horrible image could shake the tough mech before them so badly.

"Are you sure?" Jazz asked quietly.

"Trust me," he said shakily, trying to get a hold of his emotions, "it's not good. It makes me want to hunt down each and every fraggin decepticon and rip their sparks from their chests as they watch."

The mechs looked at each other in concern. Bumblebee had to be a complete wreak for such a reaction.

Sunstreaker pushed past them, walking down the hallway to begin assessing the damage and getting rid of the dead decepticons. What he didn't notice was that he left behind a large energon foot print from walking in Bee's pool of energon earlier.

It shook all the mechs to their cores.

Optimus remained with Bee as did Rachet for another joor. They were exhausted and only wished to hold to the young mech after having such a short brush with the matrix.

"Optimus," Rachet called, breaking the silence, "what was that? I thought we were all dead."

"I honestly don't know. I think Bee has connected with Megatron in a way I never thought possible."

"How though? He called Megatron brother…he can't be…"

Optimus nodded slowly.

"He is. Bee is my brother and is Megatrons in return. He is bonded to the decepticon as well but I never thought the decepticon would be affected."

"I honestly thought Megatron would kill us, if not just me at that moment. I think Bumblebee is a light he has not seen in a while and it draws his old self out, frightening him. But, he doesn't expect the little ones influence to his decisions. I think it is only that that saved us."

Rachet shook his head, it was hard to process.

"I'm sorry, my friend, I should have told you. Ironhide had learned it many vorns ago when the first time Megatron saw Bee and the sparkling told him he could feel the decepticon."

"I can't believe it but I am sure you are right about that being the reason we are still standing here."

"Bee?" a rough, weak voice asked and Rachet looked over and saw Ironhide had stumbled over to them, opening the solder in the process and energon was free falling down his left side.

"Ironhide! Get back in bed! You need to rest. You're systems will have a hard time with only one reserve working. If you stress it you can over work your reserve and shut yourself down."

"First tell me," Ironhide gasped, looking at the tortured frame of Bee.

"He's fine for the moment. The surgery was successful because of you. Now lay back down so he has a guardian when he wakes."

Ironhide looked at Bee once more before giving in and allowing Rachet to steer him to a closer bed and going back to work.

"Optimus?" Bee's called out softly, his optics barely lit and his gears working hard.

"I'm here little one. Just stay calm."

"I'm tired," he said, his voice even softer.

"It's alright. I won't leave you. Slip into recharge," he said, rubbing the bot softly with his finers.

Bee was about to say more but he whimpered as he coughed, more energon coming up, already spilling out the transfers Rachet had hooked up to the bot. There wasn't much left on board and the shipment was running late. It was not a good combination. The mechs on board could go a few more orns before their systems began giving them complications but Bee needed more than that. Rachet had said he had lost over four fifths of what his frame held, which was far below the critical limit for a bot, and needed much more since he had a leak in the internal system some where and needed to be repaired with surgery but Rachet was missing a few valuable items that were expected to come with the shipment and they had to wait, keeping Bee filled at all times and comforting him through the pain.

Finally, Rachet finished, after a few short angry hits to Ironhide's think head with his wrench before coming over and assisting Optimus to move the small bot to a clean soft bed for a comfortable recharge. He winced as Bee continued to choke on the energon, wishing there was something he could do but he was soon in a bed and Rachet left him under Optimus' eye as he went to clean up.

"Rachet!" First Aid gasped, running in with the two there medics on his heels.

"We were trapped by the decepticons in an abandon hanger after we stopped to help a few down decepticons, retreating there for cover. We heard what happened to Bumblebee, is he alright?"

"He is fine," Rachet said, straightening and then they noticed him cleaning up the massive amounts of energon.

"Primus, that is all from him," First Aid asked in shock.

"Yes, he nearly didn't make it. In truth, that much energon gone from his system should have killed him or put him in stasis but he was wake most of the time."

"Tough little bot," one of the medics said and they winced when they heard the frail coughing from behind one of the curtains.

"He's far from being completely stable. It will be orns till the shipment arrives. Only what I have there will be able to save him. I fear we will be hard pressed with the energon shortage we're having now since Bee will need a lot till then."

"We will begin looking immediately for donors and give ourselves. I think you will be hard pressed to not fine willing mechs."

"Remember, do not drain more than is needed and more than the minimum. Also, go around the base, help the badly injured here."

"Wheeljack has been taking them, saying your hands were extremely full and didn't need inconveniences to distract you. He said he would take care of everyone else and send on the serious to you."

Rachet nodded, expecting just the very action from Wheeljack if the mech wasn't hurt too badly in the fight.


	4. The Strength of A Youngling

Well, I decided to put this one out tonight as well. So two chapters in one night! Yeah!

Anyways, make sure you don't skip the chapter before this one because I know I've done that when an author has uploaded more than once chapter at once.

This was another hard chapter to write and I hope you guys don't kill me for what I did to Bee. I really do love him! He's one of my two favs. The other is Barricade who will show eventually in this story so be patient.

So, enjoy.

* * *

The next orn

Rachet had been recharging in Bumblebee's close off area to be close by incase of an emergency but never expected it to come so soon. He jumped awake hearing the struggled wheezes and gurgles of a mech downing on his own energon.

"Hold on," Rachet said, tilting his head back to freely open his mouth and let the fluid gush out for a moment before it lessoned.

"It hurts," Bumblebee wheezed, his hand touching his chest plate.

"More than before?" he asked in concern. The CMO knew Bumblebee was on a dangerous edge and he need to be on his toes, ready for anything.

Leaning down over the youngling, Rachet could hear a soft clicking that wasn't there before and another large wave of energon spilled out. Frowning, Rachet rolled Bumblebee over slightly and sighed when he saw evidence of what could be a serious internal leak. Something had to be done immediately, the medic knew he couldn't wait till the shipment.

"I'm going to put you under," he told the youngling gently.

"Why?" Bumblebee managed to asked with a gasp.

"I need to look inside you and see what's happening. Why it's making you hurt."

Bumblebee nodded.

"Alright. It will be quick. I only want to see. You'll wake in less than a joor," Rachet said, smiling at him while pushing the dark liquid into Bumblebee's systems.

Soon the mech had drifted off, his body still jerking as it reacted, trying to clear the fluid from his mouth.

Rachet moved quickly, removing the chest plate and digging past incredibly sensitive wires toward Bumblebee's spark chamber. He found it almost instantly. The main line had been cut slightly, not yet severed but still causing a severe leak that filled his breathing tanks and caused the coughing. A simple patch job would not be enough. Rachet would need a replacement and that meant he needed a mech with such to spare. A hard thing in the time of war after so many had been injured countless times, and not just any mech would do. Bumblebee's size required a certain type.

Deciding he had no choice, Rachet put a temporary solder on the leak and closed Bumblebee back up just in time as the youngling's optics brightened.

"Rachet?" he asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"How is Sunny and Blur?"

"They are fine. A few scrapes and dents but fine. They are more worried about you. They want you to be strong again."

Bumblebee seemed relieved at the news and smiled slightly but it was erased as he gasped, tightening his fists for a moment.

Rachet wished he could take all the pain away but he needed Bumblebee conscious as often as possible with his condition. A single reserve working overtime trying to keep the mech alive could spell disaster if Rachet didn't see the signs of failure soon enough because Bumblebee was unconscious.

"Bee?" a deep voice nearby asked and Rachet groaned as the guardian shuffled over, ignoring his own risk at overworking his own reserve.

"Sit down! You're lucky you didn't rip it open again!" Rachet hissed, finally getting the will power to confront the stubborn weapon specialist and forced Ironhide into a chair next to Bumblebee.

However, Rachet's anger vanished when Bumblebee broke into a wide smile seeing his guardian by his side.

"Hey, Bee. How you doing little guy?" Ironhide asked, leaning closer.

The response he got was a rough cough and small amount of energon dripping out from the corner of Bumblebee's mouth. Ironhide's spark stopped. He couldn't bear the pain the little mech was in. Not even older mechs had been subjected to such pain and torture from a horrid wound.

"Rachet, what's going on? He's losing so much energon at once and is in pain."

"I'm sorry Ironhide. I'm trying. I just checked him over. I can't wait till the shipment comes in. He needs surgery immediately but I fear I will not find the replacement he needs. It's possible to keep closing the wound every joor but it will be even more painful for him and cause more suffering," Rachet said, sounding tired as thousands of vorns of experience pressed upon him to think of a way to keep the mech alive.

"What is it?" Ironhide asked, wanting to know if there was a possibility he could help in saving Bumblebee.

Rachet quickly explained what was needed to help the youngling and Ironhide immediately jumped at the opportunity but Rachet quickly turned him down.

"You are simply not a right size for him. This time not just any mech can come to Bee's rescue."

Ironhide slumped in defeat. He burned to help the small mech, unable to watch as Bumblebee suffer and shake with pain every breem.

"I will need to call a conference. I want them all in one place at once so I can do it quickly without hunting everyone down," Rachet said, standing and going to his desk for his personal comm to Optimus.

"Optimus, I request a mandatory conference immediately. Everyone needs to be present," Rachet said.

_"What is going on Rachet?"_ Optimus asked in surprise.

"It's for Bee. He's not doing good and I need a volunteer immediately to save his life. Even if the shipment is moving faster and gets here tomorrow, Bee's systems can have taken too much by then and may permanently shut down or lock."

_"I will see to it. Who will look after him during the meeting?"_

"Ironhide. I can give him a few essential training tips and make the meeting as short as possible."

_"Very well, I will speak to you soon."_

It was only a few breems later Optimus' voice rang out over the intercom.

"Level 5 mandatory meeting. All Autobots required to attend immediately," he said and clicked off without further explanation.

Quickly, Rachet taught Ironhide how to watch over and record Bumblebee's vitals and to recognize what signs would require the weapon specialist to go out and grab the medic as soon as possible. Thankfully, the room where the meeting was being held was a short distance away since the main conference room they usually used had been near, completely destroyed from the recent battle.

By the time Rachet reached the meeting a few breems later, all the Autobots had arrived and were buzzing with questions as to what could be so important for such a large assembly.

Optimus, standing in front raised his hands as the medic entered and headed to the front.

"This needs to be done quickly," Rachet said, taking Optimus' place, ignoring any formalities. It was by Rachet's actions that they all sat straighter and gave him their attention realizing the importance to the meeting for an older Autobot to push aside such tradition.

"As everyone knows, Bumblebee received very devastating damage from the battle. He is still in an unstable condition that can turn for the worst at any moment. The initial damage caused large amounts of energon loss to his system, enough that would have taken any mech down. Also, both his energon reserves were completely destroyed, requiring immediate transfer, which came from Ironhide. However, there are a few areas outside of my reach until the shipment arrives with that I need but we all know it could be many orns before so. Bee is in a critical condition now. His main, internal line has been cut and is draining into his breather tanks causing him to choke on the very energon that is trying to keep him alive. I can't fix it with a simple solder like most injuries because it can only be done with a replacement. That's where this meeting comes into a place. Normally any Bot can volunteer to help out another when it comes to a needed replacement but not this time. It takes a certain type and size for each mech for a replacement of the main line. So, with little time I have to help Bee, I had to bring you all together at once. Mechs that are willing and have F37 frames stand."

After a pause as every Autobot digested what Rachet had just said, six finally stood, two were the twins and one of them Jazz.

"Alright. There are a few more questions…" he said but he was interrupted.

"Rachet," Ironhide gasped, leaning against the door frame, panic in his optics, "it's Bee."

Rachet jumped down from the podium immediately.

"You six come with me now," he commanded, sprinting out the room, not bothering to look behind to see if they were following.

"Ironhide, you too!" he yelled back down behind him. Jazz and three other bots were soon behind the medic while the twins had fallen back to help Ironhide.

Running in, Rachet immediately went to Bumblebee.

"Rachet!" Bumblebee gasped, his hand reaching out to the medic in panic before it collapsed and his frame shuddered as he choked. Energon was pooling thickly around him as he struggled to breathe past it.

"Hold on, Bee," Rachet said, going to work.

Bumblebee wheezed, the energon stream not relenting in anyway and his back arched as he cried out in pain.

Rachet's eyes went wide realizing what had happened. The solder had broken, ripping the main line slightly more. It was what he feared earlier, the solder was a dangerous temporary solution only meant for buying more time. He had to roll Bumblebee over to help the youngling's systems as even more energon rushed forward.

The young mech shook and gasped, trying to hold onto consciousness.

"Bee, keep calm. It will pass," Rachet said, reaching over to grab tubing and inserting it into Bumblebee's mouth and down into his breathing tanks.

Once the suction was on, the energon flow from Bumblebee's mouth lessened and Rachet sighed with relief as he positioned the tube for the best area to help with the crisis. He didn't want to resort to such a measure knowing that such methods only worked for so long and if the flow increased, Bumblebee would truly be in trouble.

A breem later, once the situation had calmed, Rachet could only find the strength to fall into the chair by Bumblebee's bed as the young mech quieted making soft whimpers of pain and light coughs in recharge.

"Primus," Jazz gasped after seeing what had happened. It frightened him that what was regarded as such precious energon was instead now threatening the small mechs' life.

"He is fine for now," Rachet said, struggling to keep his voice steady. He succeeded in the small goal knowing that he couldn't afford to instill even more fear into the seven Autobots' sparks than was already there.

"Ironhide, are you alright?" Rachet asked, going to the weapons specialist that was supported by both twins.

"Yeah," he said weakly, "I'll be fine."

"You need a recharge. It's already put hard pressure on your reserve," he said and Ironhide opened his mouth to argue but Rachet was quick to cut him off, "and it will do Bee no good with you in a serious situation as well."

Ironhide looked down at his small charge before allowing the twins take him away to his bed.

Making sure Ironhide was staying in bed and not putting up a fuss, Rachet pulled the curtain back around to hide Bumblebee from the view of the others and faced the six volunteer Autobots.

"I will need to inspect each and everyone one of you before I can ever ask you to decide. Who wants to go first? It needs to be done quickly."

Jazz instantly stepped forward.

Six joors later Rachet had finally finished after extensive testing. The results had shown Jazz, Sunny, and Bluestreak were perfect candidates for Bumblebee.

"So decide who it will be. I will not lie. It is a very serious procedure that can cost you your life in return. I want you aware of the risks you will take."

"I would do anything for him," Jazz replied and Sunstreaker nodded. Bluestreak fidgeted for a moment, not voicing the same or having an immediate reaction suggesting such.

Rachet did not fail to notice this and knew the mech's internal dilemma of not wanting to be looked down on for not risking his life for the little mech. While the CMO was disappointed of Bluestreak's reaction, he knew as a medic he could not hold it against him and also knew that if he brought it to light Sunstreaker would never respect the Autobot again and make sure all others would follow his lead. In turn, Jazz would make is his personal mission to hunt down Bluestreak and give him a good idea of what it meant to be abandoned and betrayed.

"Actually, Bluestreak. One of your tests had a small abnormality and I don't think I want to risk it with Bee in his unstable condition."

Bluestreak looked relieved at the news and Rachet had to look away for fear the disgust he felt would give him away.

"So, Jazz, Sunny, who?" he asked once the mech was gone. They had been none the wiser to what just happened.

"I know you will do it as willingly as me," Jazz said to Sunstreaker.

"Then we let Bee pick," the gruff Autobot reasoned, "It's only fair to him."

"Alright. Let me see if he's able to do this," Rachet said.

Bumblebee's systems were wearing down from the constant strain. The split had widened more, causing Bumblebee to scream out only a few joors ago and the flow was just above too much for the medic's recent design with the tubes. Now, the youngling was having to again cough the energon out of his systems, the sounds of his struggle echoing throughout the med bay.

"Bee," Rachet said softly, gently touching the suffering mech's shoulder.

Bumblebee turned his head and his optics focused on the three near him.

"Hey buddy," Jazz said quietly, "how you hold in up?"

Only a nod could be managed as more coughs racked Bumblebee's frame and the energon never ceasing.

It saddened Jazz to think of the amount of pain the youngling was experiencing.

"Sunny?" Bee asked after a few breems once the attacks calm and he was able to face them again.

"Yeah, I'm right here."

"Bee, they want to talk to you about something important," Rachet said.

Deciding to spare Rachet from yet another painful and sad explanation, Jazz jumped in and cut the medic off.

"Bee, hey little buddy, you're cut up inside really bad and it's getting worse," he said and Bumblebee nodded to show he knew the same thing, "Well, Rachet can fix you by giving you some of our parts but there's one thing. It's a dangerous thing for either me or Sunny to do it and we want you to choose."

They looked at Bumblebee in alarm as he shook his head franticly, optics widening with fear.

"Bee?" Rachet asked in concern.

"No," he gasped, "No, Jazz and Sunny will not risk their lives. I will wait till the shipment arrives."

"Bee, please. You can die by then," Sunstreaker said.

"No. I will not have anyone risking their lives for mine."

Sunstreaker groaned and Jazz stared at the mech, shocked that the youngling wasn't willing to risk the life of others for his own while he was willing to do the opposite and the reason why he was in such a situation now.

"Rachet, please talk some sense into him," Jazz said a moment later.

Unfortunately, Rachet could only shake his head slowly. It went against his programming to force Bumblebee to accept the surgery, no medic could go against a patient's wishes, no matter what those wishes may be.

"I'm sorry Jazz, Sunny, his word is final. Not even I can supersede that."

"Slag it!" Sunstreaker yelled after Bumblebee slipped into a much needed recharge, his rage building, "Bee put his life on the line to help me and Blur and because of our incompetence this is what happened! I will not sit here and watch him die. He is a far better mech and Autobot than over half of those out there. He took down three, no four Decepticons single handedly! It's my fault he's like this. I didn't double check, I didn't make sure that fraggin Con was dead! It's my fault!"

Instinctively, Rachet shrunk away from Sunstreaker's rage, fearing a physical lash out from the grief. Even Jazz had backed away defensively.

"I can't. You say Bee was protecting you, well he still is. He is putting his life before yours as he did during the battle. Can you really blame him for that? He is an Autobot through and through and he'll never stops protecting those he holds close," Rachet said a few moments later when the red tinge had finally faded from Sunstreaker's optics.

What seemed like a million different emotions raced through Sunstreaker, causing his shoulders to slump as the weight of guilt pressed down heavily. He recalled the fear of when he watched as the Decepticon was at Bumblebee's back and tore through the younglings frame with that grusome blade. It was at that moment Sunstreaker knew he had failed in protecting Bumblebee. If it wasn't for his twin and Bumblebee still being alive, Sunstreaker was sure he wouldn't have allowed himself to live much longer. Every Autobot on board the Artemis felt a part in raising the youngling and the responsibility of protecting him, but it was only a handful who took that responsibility to the next level of commitment. Their own leader, Optimus and their weapon specialist Ironhide were personal guardians to Bumblebee and Sunstreaker could only dream of being that close to the youngling. Instead, he was a part of the next protective ring. The small group who put aside hunting down Decepticons during a fight and instead sought out to find and protect Bumblebee. Those with him in this exclusive group were Mirage, Jazz, his own twin, and Blur. At the beginning of the battle, Sunstreaker had been alone and found he was relatively close to Bumblebee's quarters and made it his goal, along the way he had met up with Blur. Not even an astrosecond later they had been ambushed by the slaggin Decepticons. Then, without warning, Bumblebee was there, rapidly going on and convincing them to let him stay at their side. Sunstreaker hailed Blur on his private comm and they quickly discussed the pros and cons. Little did they know that what seemed a logical conclusion then was now an obviously stupid idea and why Bumblebee was in the med bay now.

Jazz had to focus on something other than Bumblebee for a moment as Sunstreaker's words hit him in the gut, stinging painfully. No Autobot aboard the ship would have wished to learn exactly what Bumblebee was made of in this way. They hoped that the skills they taught him wouldn't be put to use till many vorns down the road, yet now Bee lay on the edge of life and death. Jazz couldn't help but think of the last Autobot death that occurred vorns ago and that they had been lucky in losing no more brothers, for the moment.

"It's not right. By Primus it's not right. Why would he give us such a gift as Bee to only take him from us?" Jazz asked, looking to Rachet for a much needed answer.

Hanging his head in defeat, Rachet put a hand on the sad mech's shoulder to try and comfort Jazz but he never answered. Too many times in his career had he asked such a question. Too many times had he never received an answer.

* * *

*hides behind Ironhide*

"Don't hate me. I'm just trying to get to the main part of the story."

*peeks out slowly*

"Reviews would be appricated."


	5. The Calm Before The Storm

Hello again my fellow readers!

I have another update for you. Please enjoy and review.

* * *

Yet again, Rachet's attention was directed to Bumblebee a few breems later after Jazz and Sunstreaker left his side to sit out in the main area of the med bay. The youngling's struggled wheezes and coughs had increased and the medic left the two distressed Autobots to tend to his patient. While the two mech could not see what was occurring behind the curtain, they could hear.

"Relax, Bee, just concentrate on trying to breathe as deeply as you can. Good, that's it. Is the pain too much?"

"No," Bumblebee answered a few astroseconds later once his brief coughing attack calmed, "I'll be fine. Can I talk to Jazz and Sunstreaker or have they left?"

"Sunny and Jazz are just out in the main area behind the curtain. They were waiting for you to wake again. Are you sure you are up to it?"

Bumblebee must have nodded a 'yes' because Rachet called for Jazz after another pause.

"Jazz first," Rachet said, stepping out and putting his hand up to stop Sunstreaker who also rose to follow his comrade. The medic knew what Bumblebee was thinking, the youngling was well aware of the risk his life was in and was getting his goodbyes out of the way incase the worst came to past. Reluctantly, Sunstreaker stopped his advanced and sat back down. To the CMO he seemed hesitant on going to see Bumblebee, as if he didn't know what to say. Sighing, Rachet gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder and listened in on Jazz and Bumblebee.

"Hey, little buddy, what's up?" Jazz asked quietly, his voiced sounded sad."I just wanted to say thanks for everything," Bumblebee answered quietly.

"What do you mean? That's not something you have to tell me. You know I don't seek out glory. I would do anything for any mech on this ship or in my faction. Well mech or femme," Jazz said.

"I know," Bumblebee assured him, "I was just hoping that I could tell you that, incase…what I mean is…I hope you will remember me."

"What?" Jazz choked, did Bumblebee actually believe that he would cast aside all the memories like junk code once he was gone. Rachet and Sunstreaker flinched when they heard a painful sob escape the silver mech. It was apparent that Jazz was taking it hard and realizing that it could very well be the last time he and the youngling spoke. To the mech, nothing else mattered. This moment, it could be the very last with Bumblebee and he wanted to make sure that the smaller mech before him knew what an impact he had on his life. It didn't matter to Jazz if Bumblebee could pop up from the bed the next joor and proclaim a miracle and that he was healed, what was important was now and the truth was that they couldn't hold too tightly to impossible hope.

"I will never forget you," Jazz whispered, "never."

It was silent for the next few breems and Rachet was about to check and make sure every thing was all right when Jazz finally stepped out from behind the curtain. The silver Autobot took a small step towards the exit and glanced back at Bumblebee before he quickly took a deep breath and left without a word or even a glance to his two companions watching him.

Jazz jumped when he stepped out into the hallway. It seemed a good portion of those that attended the meeting Rachet and Optimus had assembled were waiting outside the med bay for news on Bumblebee. Prowl approached him slowly, comforting him through their bond but fell back as Sideswipe reached Jazz's side first.

"Sunny?" Sideswipe asked with concern, thinking that his twin was going to be the mech that risked his life for Bumblebee's.

However, Jazz couldn't find the strength to tell his fellow Autobots the truth of what happened and instead had a fixed look of desperate grief upon his faceplates. Another agonizing astrosecond of silence passed by before Prowl finally stepped up and led Jazz quickly away.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the med bay's door, Sunstreaker was standing frozen to the spot, fighting with himself to go see Bumblebee despite the guilt he felt in being responsible for the youngling's condition. With a gentle nudge from the medic, Sunstreaker found himself moving automatically towards the curtain and to Bumblebee behind it. In the short distance, Sunstreaker decided that maybe now was not the time to put his worries upon the younger mech and needed to portray and image of strength. Taking a firm hold of his racing emotions, Sunstreaker stuffed them far away and straightened himself up and even went the length to put a small smile on his face. It was the least he could do to comfort the youngest of their race. Maybe his presence would make Bumblebee happier and a happy Bumblebee was a bright light cherished by all. A bright light of hope that was the future of their race and was quickly fading.

Finally, one last step and Sunstreaker was at the curtain and reached out, pulling it back to reveal the yellow mech behind it. His fake smile was replaced by a real once when Bumblebee seemed to brighten at the much larger mech's presence. For a few moments, Sunstreaker stood still, not sure what to do exactly or what to say and it was Bumblebee that spoke first.

"Sunny. I'm sorry."

The gruff mech felt as if the ground had suddenly collapsed beneath him and he gripped at the bed's edges to hold him up.

"What?" Sunstreaker gasped, "Why…how can you be sorry? It's my fault."

"No, I should have paid more attention during practice. If I was better I could have helped you and Blur take out those Decepticons faster," he said, his gears whirling loudly, clearly expressing the extreme pressure his condition was enacting on his frame.

"Don't you dare blame yourself, Bee! Blur and I were having a hard enough time with the original three and it improved when you joined us. You helped so much. We are alive because of you and possibly more Autobots as well since they would have moved on to find more kills. I'm proud of what you learned and can say you executed all you moves flawlessly."

Bumblebee reached out to take Sunstreaker's hand but in his weakened state he couldn't move much and his arm collapsed almost as soon as he lifted it, but Sunstreaker noticed the movement and quickly scooped it up into his own. He gave Bumblebee a gentle yet comforting squeeze.

"Will you forgive me?" Bee asked quietly, optics dimming.

"For what?" Sunstreaker asked in alarm, wondering just what it was now that the youngling was blaming himself for.

"For refusing to take your transfer. I know it made you upset but I didn't want you to risk your life for mine when there is a possibility that I won't live anyways."

Sunstreaker had to look away from the youngling before he fell into an emotional mess. The decision to put up a hard front was now near impossible as every one of Bumblebee's words were breaking through his tough exterior.

"There is nothing to forgive. I overreacted. It is your choice and I am not angry with you because of it. I understand why you did it, but it was just hard for me to accept at that moment," he finally managed to say but was unable to keep his voice from shaking.

There was no response from Bumblebee as another attack racked his frame and he couldn't speak past the painful coughs. Sunstreaker watched, spark jerking painfully as Bumblebee gripped his hand tightly and whimpered softly as the assault painfully coursed through him. All he could do was hold onto Bumblebee's hand just as tightly till it passed.

"It's gone," Bee said shakily and withdrew his hand from the mech's.

It almost seemed as a queue for Sunstreaker to leave but he knew well his emotional barriers were crumbling and it wouldn't do the youngling any good to see him fall apart. Sunstreaker knew that at this moment Bumblebee needed solid structure and support from his fellow mechs to keep fighting.

"Keep fighting, Bee. Keep fighting. I'll always be here for you," Sunstreaker told him and with an understanding nod from Bumblebee, the large Autobot left.

Rachet looked up from his data pad and locked optics with Sunstreaker for a moment before Sunstreaker sighed and turned away to leave. He was also startled to find the mechs Jazz ran into earlier still outside the med bay. Quietly he closed the door behind him and looked back over to his twin that approached. They all seemed surprised to see him as if they weren't expecting him to emerge from the room so soon.

"Sunny, whyareyououthere? WhataboutBee?" Blur asked.

The same question ran through Sideswipe's processor as he went up to his twin's side but didn't bother to ask seeing that his brother was near breaking down. One small push and Sideswipe knew full well that the wall would completely collapse and all the mechs in the hallway would see a side to Sunstreaker they never thought possible for the tough beat-the-slag-out-of-every-fraggin-mech-that-slagged-with-him Autobot. Instead, he remained silent, being the supporting beam for his brother at the moment. He however, was caught off guard when Sunstreaker gave a small cry of frustration and stormed off. Giving the mechs that were waiting with him a shrug of confusion, Sideswipe ran down the hallway after his brother.

Unsure what was happening, the mechs looked to each other for answers. They had no answers and could only dwell on what they knew. The only two mechs that were a match for Bumblebee had walked out of the med bay with out a single word or hint of explanation. Jazz's tortured look had thrown them off but the obvious grief stricken state of Sunstreaker had really instilled fear into their sparks. Not knowing what to do with such information, they remained outside the med bay, hoping that maybe what was really happening would suddenly come forth and reveal it to them. Instead, all they received was a CMO exiting the med bay.

Rachet stopped to a sudden halt and blinked in surprise at the large crowd before him.

"Since you are here, I need Optimus, go get him," he instructed, snapping out of his brief shock before turning back around to return to the med bay.

"Rachet!" Blur yelled at the medic's back and Rachet stopped and turned back around, "What'sgoingon? . Didsomethingbadhappen?"

Rachet struggled briefly with himself before he sighed and answered Blur's question.

"No, Bee is still with us but I don't know for how much longer. He isn't getting the transfer surgery," Rachet said quickly and slammed the door shut behind him.

Blur stood silent in the hallway wondering just what in the pit was going on before he darted away to get Optimus.

"Rachet, what's going on?" Optimus asked, entering the med bay slowly, looking around for the medic.

"Optimus, I…I don't think I can save him," Rachet said sounding defeated and Optimus finally found him sitting next to Bumblebee who had finally slipped into a much needed recharge.

"What? What about the surgery?" he asked in shock.

"Bee refuses to let them risk their lives. He told them no and my programming will not allow me to go against it. I'm sorry."

Optimus grabbed for the nearest chair and sat down heavily as the reality of the situation pressed down on him.

"Jazz and Sunny have said their goodbyes," Rachet whispered and Optimus' spark missed a pulse.

"Good…goodbyes?" he choked, "Is it really possible it had come this far?"

Rachet nodded slowly and Optimus dropped his head into his hands and he shook his head. He couldn't accept that. Not Bee. Not something so precious.

"He'll be in recharge for a few more joors. If you want to stay here with him I'll give you time alone."

Lifting his head slowly from his hands, Optimus managed a weak nod before forcing himself up to take Rachet's place once the medic stood up and stepped back.

"Primus, I hope he remains in stasis for a while. He's had a few violent attacks that wake him, not giving him proper rest. A good long recharge can be the difference in surviving and breaking down," Rachet said, both thinking out loud and talking to Optimus at the same time.

Rachet remained for a few astroseconds before going over to his desk and picked up the data pads he was reading earlier. He was in need of a recharge too but the anxiety that Bumblebee might suddenly need him kept him alert and wired despite his frame showing clear signs that Bumblebee's violent attacks were beginning to wear him down. A few meters away, behind the curtain, Bumblebee seemed to calm under Optimus' comforting touches and he almost seemed to purr in response making the Autobot leader smile for a brief moment.

Much to Optimus and Rachet's delight, Bumblebee seemed to remain in a long restful state during the recharge and when he woke he was defiantly stronger.

"Optimus?" Bumblebee asked in confusion, and the larger blue and red mech felt some tension in his frame loosen when he could tell that the youngling was truly doing better.

"Hey, Bee. How are you feeling?"

"Better than I have in a while. I can't believe it's only been an orn since the battle. Why are you here?"

"I heard you had not accepted the surgery."

Bumblebee looked away and fidgeted nervously. He had feared what Optimus' reaction would be to his decision.

"I don't want them risking their lives to try and save mine when I could die anyways. If I did live and they didn't I wouldn't be able to live with myself and there's the possibility that we both die, then twice as many mechs were lost than just one," he tried to explain.

Optimus sighed but said nothing. Bumblebee was showing the Autobot leader just how fiercely loyal the youngling was. While he was being raised, Optimus was constantly reminded of the advantages and disadvantages to a child of war. Bumblebee had learned how to fight and survive, yet the common stubbornness in Autobots had hardwired it's way into Bee's processors along with the strong belief of protecting a fellow comrades life with his own no matter the cost. At this moment, Optimus wished the little bot hadn't learned values and was instead selfish, but Optimus scolded himself for such a thought knowing such qualities was what made Bee so special.

"Do you think you can hold on until the shipment arrives?" Optimus asked Bumblebee. Truly believing he could, the youngling nodded.

"Then no more goodbyes. Promise me."

"I promise."

Rachet stopped what he was doing and look over at the curtain hiding his leader and the youngest mech. He could hear the determination that filled Bumblebee's voice in his promise to Optimus. Now hope was growing within his own spark and telling him that Bumblebee would hold out till the shipment reached the battleship. Smiling, Rachet turned back to his pile of data pads but movement caught his attention and he frowned as he saw Ironhide going over towards the curtain that shielded the two mechs from sight. However, a quick look revealed that he hadn't reopened his surgical solder so the medic remained quiet, watching as the weapon specialist pushed aside the curtain and walked into the enclosed area.

"Optimus," Ironhide greeted, barely suppressing a groan as he sank down into the nearest chair, "If you prefer, I can watch over him while you finished the rest of you shift and recharge."

"Thank you, my friend," Optimus smiled at the weapon specialist before looking back at Bumblebee, "As for you, youngling, behave and listen to Rachet."

Bumblebee watched Optimus depart before sweeping his gaze back around and finding his beloved guardian watching him.

"So, how are you feeling Bee?" he asked, optics flirting over to the monitors and reading the vitals quickly. Ironhide knew the youngling was not in an optimal condition but he did see some improvement.

Bumblebee's answer was cut off as Rachet entered the area and started working on one of the monitors. While the CMO said nothing, he seemed to radiate irritation off his frame that stifled any hope of conversation and instead filled the air with a heavy sense of tension.

"Um, Rachet, what's up?" Bumblebee bravely managed to ask.

The medic paused at the question but didn't look to the youngling. Instead he seemed to seek the answer he should respond with from the monitor before him.

"Rachet?" Bumblebee pressed, reaching out to touch the medic on the closest part of his frame available, his arm.

"It's nothing," Rachet muttered, resuming his work, ignoring the touch and avoiding looking at Bumblebee.

"Hey, Hatchet, answer him," Ironhide growled.

Rachet whirled around, fuming and the black mech instantly realized he should have thought about what he said first, a quality that constantly got him in trouble.

"Slag it!" he cursed then finally looked at Bumblebee, "I'm sorry Bee. I don't mean to be mad and it's not directed at you, I just wish I could do something. I'm just worried the shipment won't get here in time."

"Shipment? What are you talking about? What happened with the surgery?" Ironhide asked, alarmed.

"I said no," Bumblebee said, saving Rachet the painful explanation.

"What," he yelped.

"It's not right for me to ask another of my friends to risk their life for mine when it could possibly be for naught."

Ironhide remained silent, thinking over Bumblebee's words.

"You know, Bee, I can understand that, truly, but it is not a light thing for me to take it easily. I want you safe and well and the sooner, the better."

"I know, and I'm sorry. But, this is what I want. It'll all work out, you'll see."

Sighing, Ironhide remained silent while Rachet went back to the monitor. None of the three spoke further and Bumblebee slipped into recharge.

The rest of the orn passed by smoothly, and once Bumblebee woke he was still strong and alert with little pain and no violent attacks.

"Well, time for another scan," Rachet told Bumblebee and the youngling grunted as he pushed himself into an acceptable position, "Still improving, good. Now, try and rest some more."

Bumblebee groaned in protest but knew well that Rachet was doing this for his health. This moment in peace could end suddenly and Bumblebee could easily fall to another attack, which might prevent him from being able to recharge and send his already weak systems to overheat and shutdown.

Surprisingly, Bumblebee already felt the beginnings of exhaustion creeping back into his frame and was willing to comply with the order.

Also, Rachet thought this might be the opportunity for him to get some much-needed rest and ask Ironhide to watch over Bumblebee while he was in recharge. The weapon specialist easily agreed.

Some how to Rachet's surprise, Bumblebee managed another two orns without harsh attacks to his frame or systems and the shipment was scheduled to arrive in two more. All Rachet had to worry about then was the shortage of energon throughout the battleship. He had also cleared Ironhide to leave the med bay with strict orders to take all he did lightly and absolutely no fighting or weapon practice. Much to the weapon specialist frustration, many fellow Autobots took the orders to spark and didn't hesitate to hold him back when they knew it was going to be too much. Meanwhile, without having to worry about Bumblebee anymore and the absence of Ironhide's constant roar of cannons heard throughout the ship when he normally practice, all those aboard the Artemis enjoyed the strange calm that had settled over the battleship. Rachet had even managed to spare a few joors to leave the med bay and check on those under Wheeljack and First Aid's care.

"Only one more orn," Rachet sighed as he and Optimus sat at the table together, sipping on a very small ration of energon. What was left of the energon had been measured out carefully into barely necessary portions for the Autobots under the supervision of the medics.

"Thank Primus," Optimus retorted. He had already sent out a few Autobots to accompany the shipment on its last leg of the journey to ensure its arrival knowing it held the key to the ship's survival. Rachet and his medics were already treating many mechs for energon deprivation with more soon to follow their comrades. Even Bumblebee's separate source that had been set aside to compensate for his internal leaks was running dangerously low. If the youngling had another bad episode it could deplete the energon and Bumblebee could easily fall into deprived stasis only breems after the energon ran dry. The only mechs onboard that were not affected by the shortage and would not be for a while longer were a small handful.

Both Wheeljack and Rachet received more energon that the others so that they could effectively treat the others and help with those still injured from the battle. Also, Optimus, Prowl, and Red Alert were included in the group. It fell to the three mechs to keep an eye on the security of the ship and continue what was necessary work. They split the orns between them, taking multiple shifts but did not complain, knowing they were pretty much the only defense of the ship left on stable undeprived legs.

However, despite the plan they had come up with Optimus knew the truth of what would happen if the Decepticons were to launch a second wave. With nearly all Autobots in some sort of stage of energon deprivation it would only be a joor before they were overrun. Optimus was just glad that he had put in for near double the usual amount of energon on this shipment from a hunch.

* * *

I know, it seems like I'm just dragging it out, and I'm sorry but this is how it goes so that the sweet fluffy goodness is much more enjoyable once I get there.

Anyways, I'm sorry it seems like the pov was jumping around, I was having a hard time with that and hope it wasn't too bad.

Also, I don't remember too much on TA so I can't remember if energon deprivation is their thing and I subconsiouly remembered it or if I just made it up. Would be kind of cool if you guys hit me up on some TA problems they have since I can't seem to remember anything about the show except names and some histories.

Again, I hope it wasn't boring and would really enjoy reviews, especially help on my TA rememberance problems.


	6. A Living Memory

So here I am, my next update.

Soooo sorry about last week, went out of town unexpectedly again. I know, BAD ME! Anyways, I will be updating the next chapter tomorrow or the day after since I promised two updates last week and I might even get it in to night.

Still, I'm curious, I'm not getting any reviews and I have 10favs and 17alerts, I know it's not much but I was hoping to get more reviews. It seems my biggest reviewer is Brianna L. Random (thanks by the way). To me, it seems like maybe my writing is getting worse but I can't know that unless you guys review and tell me! So please, please review. It helps me improve and get to know what you guys like better.

I hope you guys enjoy.

* * *

Ironhide refused his frame to move, and his frame honestly didn't want to move. With energon levels dropping below the minimum requirements he knew that anything more demanding than walking would quickly drop him into stasis. It was especially dangerous with his systems now functioning at low-standard capacities. He owed his life to Ratchet yet again as the medic's prestige knowledge kept him alive, lowering the functions throughout his systems to help reduce stress on the single energon reserve that was now having to pick up on the duties of twice the work on his massive frame. Also, many of his brethren Autobots knew of his unstable condition as well and had been close by, keeping an optic on Ironhide to make sure the weapon specialist wasn't taxing himself too greatly. Not knowing why all his comrades were crowding around him, Ironhide at first refused any and all help, but when he realized what their true intentions were he relaxed and let them.

"Ironhide," his name spoken from the voice of the commander caused the weapon specialist to jump in surprise. He looked over his shoulder and found Optimus standing at the doorway, optics lazily scanning over the room and the many mechs inside. For once, Optimus noted, his soldiers were lax at his presence, probably had to do with the orders he put out a few orns back. With the shortage in energon, the Autobot leader had cancelled all shifts for any kind of work till further notice to delay deprivation for as long as possible. This left Red Alert, Prowl and Optimus to care for and watch over the ship while Ratchet and Wheeljack took care of the medical issues. Just sparing that much for five mechs was harshly cutting into the last of their energon stock.

"Over here, Optimus," Ironhide called, raising his hand from the couch to catch the large mech's attention.

"I came to give you a recent update on Bee," he said dropping down heavily by Ironhide's side on the couch.

"Is everything alright?" Ironhide asked, adjusting to sit up straighter though his joints much protested against it.

"As well as it can be during this point, but Ratchet is taking very good care of him

"Thank Primus," Ironhide sighed, slouching back with relief, "I thought you were here to tell me of another bad attack. That seems the only reason you come here."

"I didn't realize. It's been so busy with everything around the ship and only three mechs to do it together. I'm just glad that I don't have to worry about the medical stuff. Forgive me my friend for being insensitive."

"Insensitive? Whoa, Optimus, don't beat yourself up. Guilt is that last thing you need on your processor at the moment. I didn't mean for it to come out like that so just forget I said anything."

With a loud sigh, Optimus dropped his head to his hands and his shoulders fell slightly as if there was truly a heavy weight of guilt upon them. Worried, Ironhide watched his leader and friend for a moment, fearing the recent increase in work was beginning to take a heavy toll on the mech.

"Anyways," Optimus finally said, looking back up, "Both Ratchet and Bee are getting some recharge. I figure I should do the same for myself."

"Please do," Ironhide told Optimus with apparent concern in his tone of voice causing the Autobot leader to laugh. Rarely, his rough and tough friend allowed his emotions to break free and show the true kindness and concern Ironhide held for those closest to him. It had warmed Optimus' spark to know that Ironhide was always watching out for him, no matter his condition, making sure that he would not push himself too far.

Ironhide looked over to say something more but instead found the red and blue mech deep in recharge, exactly in the same position.

Shifting his frame around to more a more comfortable position, Ironhide turned back to staring mindlessly at the holo-display before him. He was trying to chase the dark thoughts of what could happen to his friend away but the holo-video wasn't distracting enough and slowly they crept back into his processor.

The Autobot leader was stretched dangerously thin during a dangerous time. The Decepticons could easily launch a second attack, something not unknown for them to do, and quickly take the ship under their control: a most tempting target, no doubt. Artemis was in a fragile situation with only three mechs covering security as they all worked multiple shifts alone to keep the battleship operational and looking to repairs. Despite everything that Optimus had upon him to do, he still performed his usual tasks as leader and somehow managed to squeeze in time with Bumblebee. However, such a schedule was deeply cutting into the already small amount of time he had for recharge. But none would dare to stand up to Optimus and declare the leader was doing too much. Every mech and femme aboard the Artemis now completely relied upon Optimus and the other four mechs to get them through this and keep them alive. It hurt them to just have to sit by and watch as their leader and fellow comrades worked through a delicate situation where they could easily overheat critical systems and fall into stasis but that was all they could do.

As Ironhide thought over this, he hardly noticed the holo-display anymore. Once the holo-video ended, he finally did realize it had been a few joors and Optimus would need to wake up soon.

"What? Is it time already?" Optimus asked groggily after Ironhide woke him gently.

"No exactly but I know you want to check in on Bee before your shift."

"Thanks," he said, grateful for the thought of getting some time with the youngling before another long agonizing shift. With a grunt, Optimus pushed himself up off the couch to his feet and stretched his weary joints before heading out the door.

"Tell Bee I said hi!" Ironhide called out to his commander's retreating back and a wave from Optimus let him know the request was heard.

"Heonlyrechargedthreejoors," Blur commented, sitting nearby at a small table flanked by two recharging mechs who were slumped up on the table. It seemed nearly every Autobot was in recharge the majority of the orn due to the increasing deprivation.

"I know but it's not like I can force him, you know how Optimus is. It won't surprise me if he keeps on going even after the shipment gets here. Nope, not until every mech is on his feet will he finally relax," Ironhide sighed, knowing full well the possibility of such a thing happening if Ratchet didn't see it before it happened. Ironhide made it a note to point out this possibility to the medic the next time they spoke.

"Blur, I've been wanting to ask but I'm not sure if I'm ready to handle it," Ironhide said quietly, moving to stand but Blur beat him to it and came to sit down next to him, not wanting the weapon specialist to over exert himself, "do you have the battle in your vision files?"

"Youwishtoseewhathappened?" Blur asked quietly.

Ironhide nodded. He wanted to know, no….needed to know just how Bumblebee had gotten into such fierce injuries.

"It'. Givemeaclick. Iwillprojectit."

The fast mech put a finger to the side of his left faceplates and paused. Then the light streams projected from his eyes. Ironhide saw that Blur started from the very beginning of the battle when four Decepticons had ambushed him and Sunstreaker.

As the fight raged on, Ironhide watched with surprise when Bumblebee ran up to the two mechs and refused to leave, giving plausible reasons in an attempt to stay and fight. He was impressed when he saw Bumblebee spot the two Decepticon sneaks he hadn't noticed at all but was unable to suppress a fearsome growl as the youngling and sneaks fought. He nearly roared in outrage when he saw the spark wrenching horror of Bumblebee being attacked from behind without warning and the sudden change in the youngling who quickly took down the remaining three Decepticons.

The projection vanished with the last image of Bumblebee covered in bright energon, confusion clear on his face and Blur looked up at the weapon specialist to gauge Ironhide's reactions to the battle.

"He's…he's" Ironhide stuttered, trying to express clearly what he was thinking.

"He'sawarrior," Blur finished and Ironhide nodded helplessly. There was no other way to describe what he had seen. Bumblebee, the youngling training to be a spy had instead performed fighter like movements when his intended profession instead called for quickness and evasion. But, Ironhide couldn't deny that the espionage training had come in handy, keeping Bumblebee sharp and quick in the battle to fight the much larger Decepticons. It seemed that Bumblebee was more than a spy, more than a fighter; he had become a strange blend of every mech aboard the ship. Each Autobot had a hand in raising him.

Wheeljack taught the yellow mech science and experimentation which lead to the youngling's own personal discovery of how to make quick, rough, and effective explosives on the battlefield.

Rachet had given Bumblebee the secrets of the trade, attacks that were only known by medics till now. Ironhide knew well from personal experience that Bumblebee could drop a mech in seconds with a simple pinch of the right wires. Also, he had learned how to treat the simpler injuries that didn't require surgeries or major patch jobs.

Red Alert taught him strategic defense and the need for security.

Prowl taught him patience and how to do the monotonous tasks required throughout the ship that were neglected and dodged by most Autobots.

Sunstreaker had taken up Ironhide's intended job and took Bumblebee out to practice on the range while his twin Sideswipe took over sparring matches and hand to hand combat.

Jazz taught him hidden offensive moves and crippling strikes while Mirage taught stealth and information gathering along with whatever other skills that were needed for his espionage training. Both Autobots were the two prime teachers in his over all training.

Optimus taught Bumblebee the responsibilities that came with leadership and how to make hard decisions. The Autobot leader also put the youngling's patience to the test in keeping calm in certain chaotic situations.

Blur worked out with the young mech, mostly to try an increase his speed and accuracy while moving.

There were many other traits from many other Autobots Bumblebee had learned from but the list seemed endless.

In the end, Bumblebee learned from each Autobot on the ship and had melted all of them down into the one frame that was his. No Autobot would be able to match him once he was an adult because now the youngest of their race was left to harbor a piece of each Autobot deep within his spark. Still, it was not a reassurance to Ironhide. He could feel that if Bumblebee was capable of learning Autobot qualities easily then it was possible that he could absorb Decepticon traits as well. While, aversion and deflection were among espionage skills, it was also a Decepticon quality. Ironhide made it clear to note that Bumblebee was especially sly and quick to manipulate others' words if the situation was not headed in his intended direction. Some times the hidden Decepticon in Bumblebee crawled out too far and was shown in the cruel rare humor the youngling expressed when he was angry or upset. Before, every Autobot dared not to anger Ironhide or Rachet, the two mechs on board with the worst, most legendary tempers, but then they saw their little youngling's anger. None would even think to upset Bumblebee and would rather face Ironhide's wrath or Ratchet's well-used wrench. They were all equally surprised when Bumblebee was rather meek and didn't argue with Ironhide no matter what happened.

The behavior had occurred when Ironhide completely lost his mind the first time he saw Bumblebee and Sunstreaker out practicing on the firing range. Bumblebee did not take to the assault from his guardian well and clearly expressed he wasn't happy with Ironhide controlling his life.

All the Autobots present had watched in shock when Bumblebee seemed to match Ironhide's wrath inch for inch although the youngling was still significantly smaller. It grew heated and came to a point when Ironhide only saw red and horrified himself by allowing the thought to hit Bumblebee cross his processor. Since that argument, Bumblebee had kept quite when Ironhide was mad and took the anger without a voice of complaint.

It wounded Ironhide to see the young yellow mech bend so easily from fear of his actions. After Ironhide had lost his temper, he had instantly requested a long mission to run away from the mistake and when he finally returned a vorn later he was shocked by Bee running up and grabbing him in a hug.

Still, Bumblebee had a nasty temper that lashed out at unexpected times. No one seemed to really know what sensitive topics set the youngling off and a few had be subjected to the feared raged. The one incident that no mech would forget was when it was Ratchet who had been the one to trip the wire to Bumblebee's anger.

Ratchet, naturally, had found it his duty to give the young mech a hard talking to about not training and the inexperience of younglings. Bumblebee had not taken to the conversation well; he had not taken it well at all. Many Autobots will swear the expression on the medics face didn't change for orns after the shock he received from Bumblebee's retort to the confrontation. Ratchet had never given the rumors surrounding the youngling any weight and never anticipated such a wrath that could out do his own and decided next time he would listen a little more closely to the whispers.

Other than the smaller things that Ironhide noticed, there was one more Decepticon part in Bumblebee that terrified the guardian. It happened once but Ironhide prayed to Primus daily he would never have to witness it again.

Bumblebee and Sideswipe had been doing their usual wrestling, one of the few things the weapon specialist allowed since the youngling had always wrestled with the twins since he was a sparkling. At some point the light fighting had become more intense and a few of Sideswipes snide remarks and taunts had gotten under Bumblebee's wiring and brought forth his terrible anger. The youngling had successfully managed to complete one of Jazz's signature moves and gotten Sideswipe in a tight lock that pressed down on vital wiring which was key in sending the mech offline into reluctant recharge. Usually, in fights, a simple lock and the acknowledgement that the opponent could do no more was the end of the fight but Bumblebee's rage had gotten the better of him and he refused to ease up off the twin. The vicious look of hatred in Bumblebee's optics scared all the mechs present and it took both Sunstreaker and Ironhide's brute strength to rip the mech off of Sideswipe. From then on, no others could find the courage to go up against the youngling other than those who hadn't been a witness and surprisingly, the twins.

Being the last youngling of the race, Bumblebee was more than just a living memory of the Autobots; he was a living memory of the Cybertronian race, both Decepticon and Autobot.

"Hereallyisthelastyoungling,isn'the?" Blur asked quietly, interrupting Ironhide's thoughts and making the weapon specialist realize that he was no the only to know of the discoveries about the youngling.

The rest of the orn went by as uneventfully as the orn before with Optimus once again ending up next to Ironhide, recharging on the couch. This time, however, Ironhide allowed himself to rest and let his own frame relax and slip into recharge.

"Ironhide," Blur said, tapping the weapon specialist on the shoulder to wake him up, "Theshipmentisalmosthere. Afewjoorsaway!"

Ironhide managed a smile despite his grogginess and looked over to find that Optimus was already gone. However, his brief moment of happiness dropped away as the overhead comm clicked on and relayed a message he didn't want to hear ever again.

_"All able medics report to the med bay immediately,"_ Rachet's voice said.

First Aid, the only other medic in the entire ship to not be in some stage of deprivation, groaned and stood up slowly. His frame and systems were specialized since creation allowing himself to function with minimal energon requirements meaning he wasn't falling into deprivation as fast as his fellow Autobots. Still, with a lack of energon, he wasn't at a full 100% and had to wait a moment as he stretched to help get the flow of energon to certain parts of his frame before he could begin properly functioning again. Catching Ironhide's optic before leaving, First Aid gave a quick nod and quickly left.

Fearing for Bumblebee, Ironhide scrambled to get up and follow the young medic but Blur was all ready there, pinning him down and shaking his head.

"No. Stayhere. Youaren'tamedic,letRatchetdohisjob. Besides,you'. Beedoesn'tneedthat," Blur reasoned quickly and Ironhide sighed with defeat as he nodded and stopped resisting the fast talking mech.

Ratchet couldn't suppress the grimace as he watched Bumblebee struggle to breathe against the energon flow coming out of his mouth. The last of the energon stored away for the youngling had been hooked up with the hope that the attack would end soon enough but the medic knew he was cutting it close. The shipment was still a few joors away and too much could go wrong in between. If these attacks kept up, Bumblebee would need that shipment much sooner.

However, the yellow mech was making no sound of pain or discomfort past the usual noise of trying to breathe and choking on the life sustaining liquid.

"Bumblebee, what's wrong?" Ratchet asked, knowing something wasn't right, "How is the pain?"

"Distant, like a dull ache," Bumblebee gasped, his voice weak and his optics dull and seeming far off, trapped in another world.

"What! No! Bumblebee, I need you to focus on my voice," Ratchet yelled, his voice laced with an edge of panic as he lost his composure for the situation. Quickly, he thought of what to do before deciding to pull the youngling's chest armor off without administering any anesthesia.

Bumblebee gasped at the sudden pain but fell back into semi unconsciousness the next moment.

"Come on Bee. Embrace the pain."

He could barely hear what Ratchet was saying but Bumblebee was sure he wasn't hearing it correctly. The medic was telling Bumblebee to go towards the pain, why would Ratchet want him to suffer? All this time with the medic he had been trying to prevent pain and now the same CMO was causing it. Still, the youngling knew that Ratchet wouldn't betray him and with a trust that ran deep, Bumblebee did as Ratchet said, crying out when the medic hit sensitive wiring.

"That's good Bee, really good. Just hold on, the pain means you are alive, you are still here," Ratchet said, digging through the frame of his patient.

First Aid was the first medic back and immediately went to his superior's side for assistance.

"I'm here Rachet. What do you need me to do?"

"Stay right here and hand me the tools. I need to lessen his energon flow and can't worry about focusing on other things."

The young medic nodded and looked at the tools doing a mental check to make sure all the essentials were there. Waiting for the word, First Aid stood by Ratchet's side handing the CMO tools and taking back the unneeded ones. It was a simple process but critical since the medic working on Bumblebee wouldn't have to waste valuable time looking for the correct item needed.

"The others are energon deprived, Rachet," Wheeljack said, entering and going over to his partner's side, "So I came in their stead."

"You'll do just fine. I've given you enough training. Right now I just need alert optics. Keep a sharp look out on Bee's vitals and possible new leaks," Ratchet told him not even bothering to look up from what he was doing.

"Ratchet! Bee's not offline," Wheeljack exclaimed when he saw the youngling conscious and clearly suffering from the intense pain Ratchet was inflicting on Bumblebee as he worked.

"I know," Ratchet growled, digging deeper through Bumblebee's frame, nearly to the main line, "I can't risk putting him under. He needs the presence of pain for his processor to grasp to the fact that he can die easily if he's not alert and fighting it."

A few breems later, after Ratchet was nearly at the end of what he was doing, he hesitated to solder the opening on Bumblebee's main line knowing full well it would just rip again in one or two more joors throwing the youngling yet again into another cycle of intense pain and close calls. But, it had to be done to help preserve the precious little energon the youngling had left. Ratchet sighed and pulled back from Bumblebee's exposed frame as he studied the youngling. There just wasn't enough energon to wait.


	7. Shattered Hope

I've received a few complaints that Nightspark has been going too slowly and needs some action. To not disappoint, I have decided on a compromise. I've taken the next three chapter, put them together and condensed them considerably into one long chapter. As a result, Chapter 7 will finish the ties needed to give way to the anticipated arrival of 8. Chapter 8 will consist of the much craved for action where our story will begin to take it's turning point.

Last but not least, a few fellow Barricade fans have asked when he will make his appearance. I have tried to respond to each personally but I feel a few may have slipped my grasp so I just want to make it known now. Barricade will be appearing, nothing will change that. However, his appearance might require your patience for a few more chapters. He may appear as early as Chapter 10 or as late as Chapter 15, but he is coming. Also, he will be a major character in the story from then on.

If there are any more question or concerns I haven't addressed, let me know. If not, read and enjoy, and please leave reviews. You guys did such a good job with chapter 6 that I would love to see the same response to chapter 7 if not more!

* * *

The temporary patch helped buy more time for Ratchet and First Aid so that the youngling was still stable when the shipment came in, and when it did Optimus and Wheeljack immediately brought the energon and medical supplies straight to the CMO.

"How is he?" Optimus asked, setting a crate down as he looked over at Bumblebee who was just lying still staring at the ceiling.

"Not too great, he had another bad attack earlier but it's been calm for the moment, and I've got a pause to get this energon sorted out and dispersed."

"Just do what you need to. Primus knows I'm not going to get in your way. The Autobots haven't received a blow this hard in ten vorns and I want a good out come this time around," Optimus said.

The medic stopped for a moment as the memories washed over him. It was the last time Ratchet had ever been so stressed like he was now with Bumblebee. The CMO hadn't had the time to recharge as he and First Aid jumped back and fourth between ten critically injured Autobot officers including Optimus as well. The leaders of the faction had gathered, as they did once every hundred orns, but that meeting had been a trap. A disguised Decepticon sneaked into the room acting as if he needed to grab a left behind data pad and instead detonated an energon infused bomb that killed one leader instantly and three later due to injuries. Those that had survived the meeting instructed all future plans for gatherings would be once, maybe twice a vorn. Also, those attending were the only allowed anywhere near the area, for the meetings were now conducted in total secrecy.

"The first to get this energon are the injured and seriously deprived. That means Ironhide. I don't care if he complains, you force this down his mouth," Ratchet told Optimus sternly clearly expressing with his tone that the leader would regret it if he didn't follow the medic's orders to the letter. For once, Optimus was under Ratchet's command since the ship was in a medical crisis.

"Wheeljack, you are paired with Optimus on this one. I need you to watch over him and give proper amounts so that none will get energon toxicity,"

"Understood," he said, still sorting out the energon.

"Next, Optimus, I want you, Prowl, and Red Alert to take a share. No arguments. Even though energon is going out right now, we'll still need some in charge while they recover. Wheeljack, that means you and First Aid too. He's near his limit, I can tell."

Wheeljack nodded and tossed one of the energon cubes he was sorting through over at First Aid who was instead going through medical supplies and taking inventory, yet the young medic still caught it one handed easily.

"After that, it's pretty simple, just pass it out to the rest of those on the ship and make sure no one gets left out. That means you need to go room to room and check on each Bot to make sure they are still conscious. Primus knows we might have had a few crawl away and lock themselves in their rooms as they wasted away."

"Understood, Ratchet. Anything else before we head out?"

"Yes, when all that is done you and Prowl are to report directly to the med bay for a proper recharge. Do not argue!" he snapped grabbing a wrench nearby when Optimus opened his mouth to complain, "If I find out that you're avoiding coming back I will hunt you down and drag you back by your aft after disconnecting your vocal cords and using them as a personal leash to tie you down in bed."

Optimus nodded swiftly but was unable to erase the look of alarm on his face as he darted out with Wheeljack on his heels. First Aid chuckled but was silenced by Ratchet's glare and quickly found himself following after the two mechs the next klick.

With a sigh, Ratchet left the crates for a moment to check on Bumblebee.

"Bee, can't you recharge?"

"Nope, sorry. It's not anything that I can tell. I just can't get my program to run."

Ratchet frowned but decided to check on how the youngling was still holding up internally. This time giving painkillers, Ratchet checked and found Bumblebee's main line was half way ripped. Frustrated at that he could dono more till the surgery, Ratchet had nothing to do but finish First Aid's inventory. He was disappointed he didn't get all the medical supplies he requested but figured it was good enough for now and began putting it all away until he realized he was missing the most important item needed.

"Slag it!" Ratchet cursed just as Prowl entered supporting an unsteady, but no longer deprived, Ironhide with him.

"What's wrong?" Ironhide asked with concern, unable to stop himself from looking over at his charge.

"They didn't send the part I needed for Bee. I don't have what I need," Ratchet said sounding utterly defeated as he leaned against the wall for support trying to think of other procedures he could use to help the youngling.

"What are you saying Ratchet! Can you not help him?" Ironhide yelled, his infamous temper rising along with his panic for Bumblebee's life.

"Slag it, I don't know Ironhide. I'll try all I can. I have to go through my supplies and see what I have on hand," Ratchet answered facing Ironhide squarely, glaring over at weapon specialist while his own rage rose dangerously, "But I am not giving up!"

Realizing that he was pushing Ratchet to a dangerous edge, Ironhide backed away and let his anger drain out and the medic responded in same, calming as he allowed training and experience to finally take a hold of his processor again. It would do Bumblebee no good for the two mechs to start fighting over something they couldn't control.

"Hide?" Bumblebee's voice called out when he realized the loud voices were coming from his guardian and the CMO.

Immediately, Ironhide forced his panic down from sight and made his way over to the youngling with the help of Prowl.

"How are you?" he asked, and Prowl sat him down next to the youngling. However, he couldn't stop his optics from flicking over to the monitor for Bumblebee's vitals and sighed.

With a frown to his guardian's reaction, the yellow mech only nodded a silent response.

"That's good," Ironhide said absently, not even noticing the movement and responding automatically. His gaze was held fast to the monitor as he read and reread the deteriorating condition his charge was still in.

"Are you in pain?" Ironhide asked a breem later, finally looking down at Bumblebee.

"It's not bad anymore," he told the guardian with a rough voice.

"Don't worry, the hatchet's gonna fix you up real soon and you'll be able to get back out there," Ironhide promised with a smile, "Primus, I'll even train you myself."

Bumblebee's optics brightened to their bright energetic blue for the first time in orns at the promise.

"Really?" he asked quietly, fearing to believe it.

"Yes. I should have been the one training you since the beginning. If Sunny and Sides hadn't realized I was neglecting my duties you wouldn't be here now and more mechs might be hurt or dead."

The smile on Bumblebee's faceplates hadn't faded and instead seemed to increase as his guardian reassured him his word was true. For a while, Ironhide stayed with Bumblebee, talking lightly and taking care to not trigger more attacks from the youngling. He learned that they mostly occurred whenever the mech became excited and began talking fast or was laughing.

A few breems later, Ratchet interrupted their conversation of the best way to trick a Decepticon by standing before them with his hands on his hips, tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for them to stop talking and acknowledge his presence. What the medic didn't expect was for the two mechs to only spare him a brief glance before continuing as if no one was there. Bumblebee moved on to explain his favorite move to Ironhide when Ratchet grumbled an incomputable noise and threw up his hands in irritation before storming off.

The youngling and Ironhide roared with laughter at the dramatic departure of their medic knowing full well he was there and that ignoring Ratchet would irritate the CMO to no end.

"Come back, Ratchet," Bumblebee called once he recovered from his brief coughing attack, "We were just messing with you."

"It's highly illogical to do such to the mech who is caring for you," Ratchet huffed walking back over, this time with a long, thick, cylinder, metal, tube in his hand. Thankfully not a wrench, Ironhide noted. Though anything metal, or hard, in Ratchet's hands could be just as deadly.

"Anyways," Ratchet sighed, shaking his head, "I think I have found a solution but the recovery time will be near doubled if not longer."

"What is it?" Ironhide asked, standing up.

"Nano medic drones. They are a recently created item, by Wheeljack himself in fact, and have been very successful in near all cases," he answered.

"Nano what?" the weapon specialist asked, making it clear that he had completely no idea what the medic was talking about.

"They are tiny Cybertronian drones programmed with a sole purpose of repairing injuries that are hard to replace or heal on their own, such as Bee's main line," he answered, rolling his optics as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

"Okay," Ironhide said slowly as his processor managed to sluggishly absorb the information while Bumblebee had to fight to hide a smile at how slow his guardian grasped the foreign medical knowledge, "how do they work?"

"Simply, I will place them in predesignated areas and over time the drones will multiply and combine, closing the wound or completely rebuilding it. It's a very long and tedious process and even longer with the more serious the injury but it is incredibly effective. The specifics, such as basic programming, are complicated but I'm willing to tell you that as well if you like."

"No!" Ironhide said quickly and threw up his hands, alarmed he might have to learn more confusing medical information, "I think I understand it well enough. So how long till Bee completely recovers?"

"It's difficult to say. Over half his main line has been cut and torn so it will take about half a vorn to completely seal and after that he'll need to wait till his systems learn he's healed and finally calm down. In the end, Bee should be back up and running at one hundred percent after three quarters of a vorn."

"Primus, Ratchet, that's a long time. Will he still suffer from these attacks during recovery?"

Ratchet nodded sadly, "It's all we've got."

"Do it," Bumblebee said, startling them. They had completely forgotten that they were having the conversation right in front of the youngling.

Ratchet nodded, expecting no less from the yellow mech.

"Now, Ironhide, you need to recharge. You're surgery will be soon. We need you on your feet soon. Bee's surgery will be after yours since he'll need more than just the Nano medic drones and a reserve replacement."

Ironhide was reluctant to leave Bumblebee but after a few words of comfort from his charge, he gave in.

"Ratchet, everything is going great. I think every mech and femme has received energon to some degree," Optimus said, coming in with Wheeljack and an armful of left over energon.

"Good. Now I'll brief you on Bee's situation," Ratchet said, taking the energon from the Bots before sitting them down.

Ratchet quickly explained the shocking discovery and his new plan for Bumblebee. They took it well, seeming relieved that the youngling would finally be getting help despite the initial set back.

"Now, Optimus, and Prowl, I am activating my previous orders for complete rest for one orn and to be absolutely sure you will follow it I am not giving you clearance to leave my med bay."

The two mechs looked at each other in defeat before nodding meekly back at their medic.

"What about Red Alert?" Prowl dared to ask wondering why he and Optimus were suffering the medic's wrath and not him.

"He'll get his rest after yours. We still need some one to watch over the ship and you two have been the ones longest without proper rest. I know Red Alert has been using his recharge to its fullest capacity and thus is in better shape than you two," he answered, "Don't be upset. You two have taxed yourselves hard and the crew knows it well. They will be fine for one orn under Red Alert's presence."

Prowl gave Ratchet a skeptical look as if the CMO had lost his processor. The Artemis, safe under the sole protection of suspect-even-a-turbofox-of-Decepticon-trickery Red Alert? They were so slagged if an astroid so much as drifted in front of the paranoid mech in the wrong way.

"Will you be doing Ironhide's surgery tonight?" Optimus asked, trying his best to not think of all the things that could go wrong at Red Alert's percautions if left alone for only a joor, let alone near an entire recharge cycle.

"Yes, once First Aid returns. I want to wait till Hoist is good to go before doing Bee's. Now pick a bed and stay there."

Optimus quickly took the other bed next to Bumblebee, the second being occupied by Ironhide, so that now two guardians flanked the yellow mech. When he saw Ratchet wasn't looking, Optimus slipped out and disappeared behind Bumblebee's curtain.

"Hey," he said quietly when he saw the youngling was still awake, "I hear you're gonna be fixed up soon. I want you to listen to Ratchet's orders. Even after this you'll be out of it for a while."

"I know but I'll be fine," Bumblebee said with a sigh.

Optimus watched youngling for a moment before hunkering down at his side in silence. The youngling didn't mind, and just enjoyed Optimus' presence for the moment.

"Optimus! Bed! Now!" Ratchet yelled and the commander barely ducked a flying wrench that seemed to materialize from now where, "Bumblebee needs his rest, I will not have you weakening his system! He hasn't recharge in an orn."

The Autobot leader gave Bumblebee another glance over and noticed the exhaustion upon his face mirrored by the tired look in his baby blue optics.

"I didn't know," Optimus defended and ducked yet another wrench. Ratchet's arsenal was never empty of projectile weapons.

"Out of here and into your bed now!" Ratchet growled, a third wrench all ready out and bouncing with the anticipation to be used on his palm.

Optimus winced at the thought of the well-known sting that object made when it was guided by Ratchet's hand. Thinking it best to not put his dodging skills to the test a third time, Optimus gave Bumblebee's hand a quick squeeze and darted away.

Ratchet went to Optimus' bed a few breems later and the commander shrank back in fear and thought only of protecting his head from dents.

"Relax, Optimus. I'm just going to check over you to make sure these last orns weren't too hard on you and damaged anything," Ratchet said, putting the wrench away and pulling out a scanner.

"All clear, some wear and tear but that I can patch up at your next check in. Now, get some rest."

With a heavy sigh, Optimus allowed himself to relax and drift off into recharge.

A few joors later, unknown to the sleeping commander, Ironhide's surgery ended smoothly and had his systems set to not allow the weapon specialist to wake till the next orn.

"How are the others?" Ratchet asked once First Aid finally came back.

"Doing well now. Most were only in the beginning stage of deprivation and were online within the joor. There is only a handful that might take an additional orn or two till they are fully functional."

"That's good news. Are you prepared to help me with Bee's surgery?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you up to date with the technology of the NMDs?"

"Wheeljack's work? Oh yes. I have studied it very closely and am impressed. He's a good catch. Too bad he's not an actual medic, he would be a very good one."

"Yes, well, he's very good at what he does too," Ratchet said, smiling at the thought about how his partner would spend joors at a time locked away in his specially designed lab until the medic dragged him out with orders to get rest.

"I should get some rest before the surgery."

Ratchet wished him well and went through a round on his patients.

Optimus and Prowl were comfortably in a deep recharge, and Ironhide seemed to be doing fine. To his disappointment, the exhausted youngling was still online.

"Bee, are you trying?" Ratchet asked, slightly frustrated.

Bumblebee nodded slowly but didn't speak. Ratchet could tell he was truly tried if he wasn't even trying to crack a joke to lighten the mood.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to force you into recharge. It's not something I want to do but it has to happen."

"That's fine," he said, managing a shrug.

Sighing with relief, Ratchet dropped himself into the chair next to Bumblebee's bed. He almost feared the sedatives wouldn't work on the youngling, but the yellow mech was offline finally. Ratchet stayed at Bumblebee's side, thinking about the coming surgery and delicate procedure instead of slipping into a recharge.

Optimus came online smoothly and felt at his best. Filled with fresh energon and having medical orders to rest, who wouldn't feel the same? Stretching, he decided to check on Bumblebee.

He almost let a chuckle slip as he saw Ratchet slumped forward in his seat, head on Bumblebee's bed, clearly in recharge but the youngling's optics were lit up brightly.

"Shh," he said told Optimus quietly.

"How long has he been out?" Optimus asked quietly, tip toeing over.

"A joor. I woke up just as he fell into recharge," Bumblebee answered.

"Why don't you try resting," Optimus suggested.

"I want to, but can't. Pain keeps me alert," Bee explained.

Optimus sighed and looked around when he heard the door to the med bay open.

"Ratchet?" Wheeljack called out.

Darting out, Optimus put his hands up to silence the mech so he wouldn't wake Ratchet.

"He's in recharge," Optimus explained when he saw Wheeljack's confusion, "Just went offline after watching over Bee all that time."

Wheeljack nodded that he understood. His partner always took his job seriously and was especially dedicated to Bumblebee now. They hadn't been together in some time because the medic's presence was always required here for the youngling.

"I just came to tell him his medic would be good for duty and help with the surgery."

"I'll let him know when he wakes. Try and put the word out for no one to come over and disturb the med bay."

"Yes, sir," Wheeljack said and left just a quickly as he came. The good thing about Wheeljack was that he took Optimus' orders as seriously as Ratchet's and the message spread throughout the ship quickly.

Taking the opportunity of Ratchet's inability to restrict them to the med bay, Prowl and Optimus made for a quiet getaway.

A few joors later, Ratchet finally woke and realized he was still next to Bumblebee.

"I didn't think I would fall into recharge," he muttered to himself and looked over at Bumblebee to see the yellow mech gazing at him with a smirk, "And did you get any rest?"

"You should know. All that time you were awake," Bumblebee frowned.

"Right…sorry. I should get moving and check on Ironhide."

"Is he alright?"

"Yes. The surgery went well. He'll just have to keep it light for a few orns till his systems start accepting the second reserve and fall back into normal routine."

Bumblebee smiled slightly but it vanished.

"Bee? How bad is the pain?" Ratchet asked, immediately concerned.

"It's alright," he murmured.

"Bee, if it hurts let me know. I can ease it," Ratchet said, his spark twisting at the thought of Bumblebee trying to be strong for the older mechs in an attempt to prove himself, "Many mechs wouldn't be able to handle your pain. You don't have to prove anything to any one. You have already done that."

The youngling shook his head firmly.

"No, I'm fine, I promise," he said then curled up slightly, coughing rough for a moment.

Ratchet cleaned the energon away and watched Bumblebee sadly for a moment before leaving when he heard the familiar groan of Ironhide waking up.

"That little bot is too tough for his own good," Ratchet growled quietly to himself as he checked over Ironhide but the guardian heard.

"What's going on? What did Bee do?"

"He won't take meds thinking he still needs to prove himself," Ratchet said angrily.

"Prove himself? He's already gone and done that," Ironhide said in shock.

"I tried telling him that."

Ironhide frowned. Bumblebee wasn't usually like that. Once he was given a rational reason for something he usually went with it.

"Are you sure it's not something else? Maybe the pain isn't really that bad."

"Ironhide! He's curled into a ball hacking up energon!" Ratchet snarled.

Ironhide winced, immediately shrinking back. He knew that if he tried to argue back to the medic he might end up leaving more injured than he came in.

Instead he dared a more reasonable question, "Have you specifically asked him or just assumed?"

Ratchet opened his mouth to argue but then said nothing, glaring at the weapon specialist; he hated being shown he was wrong.

"That's what I thought. Ratchet, you have just been on edge for a while because of all that's going on and I can tell your wires are fried but you need to take a break. Let First Aid watch over him till the surgery while you spend some time with Wheeljack."

"I…I just don't trust anyone to do it right. He needs me."

"He'll be fine. Go relax, First Aid and I can watch over him till then."

Ratchet realized he was stuck between his frame screaming for rest and the logic of Ironhide's words. With a defeated sigh he set all his medical equipment down and walked slowly to the med bay door. Ironhide had never seen such a dramatic departure as Ratchet's when the medic stood out in the hallway looking into the med bay with a sad, lost look on his face as the door slid closed.

"That was unnecessary," Ironhide said with a laugh before hopping down off his bed and instantly regretting it as his bad leg locked up at that exact moment. With a surprised cry, Ironhide toppled over, taking a few monitors with him and effectively creating a very loud and damaging crash.

"Hide?" Bumblebee's voice called out in alarm.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he reassured his charge as he came limping over to his side.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, just not as young as I use to be," he said with a shrug before looking down at his leg. It took a few moments of digging about and pushing the right areas for his leg to unlock. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat down.

"So, how are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"Answer me truthfully Bee, are you in pain?" Ironhide asked.

"Ratchet," Bumblebee grumbled.

"Bee?" Ironhide pressed.

The yellow bot looked at him with tired optics before he summoned up the strength to reply, "Why don't you guys believe me? I think I've gotten use to it. It's just bad when I cough."

Ironhide had to look away for a moment. His beloved youngling had just said he was use to the constant pain he was in. No mech should ever have to say such. Slag, he just wanted to find Primus and tear that aft a new one. Primus should be ashamed for what he was putting the youngling through; it was his fault.

"Don't say that," Bee said, a whimper escaping him for a moment, "I tried telling Ratchet Primus isn't at fault."

Ironhide realized he had spoken his anger out loud and looked at Bumblebee in surprise to his reply.

"How do you know anything about Primus' plan anyways?" Ironhide asked a second later.

His charge looked at him for a moment, unsure how to answer before shrugging and deciding to respond with a question of his own, "How do you?"

Ironhide looked at him, silent as he thought over the question but the youngling spared him from answering by breaking the silence a few breems later.

"Look, Ratchet keeps saying that I'm suffering more than any other mech, and that I should have died a long time ago. I kept from falling into stasis while my system had hardly any energon. My main line is severely ruptured. Yet here I am. Maybe it is by Primus's will I am still alive, giving me a second chance."

Still, Ironhide remained quiet as he recovered from the shock as he was thrown off guard by what the small yellow mech said. Not once had the weapon specialist thought of the situation like so.

The question was still hanging in the air by the time First Aid woke and came over to check on the youngling when he saw Ratchet wasn't present.

First Aid was frowning as he continued checking over Bumblebee.

"What's wrong?" Ironhide asked, finally speaking.

"His vitals aren't doing too good. If they drop even further it will be a high-risk surgery. His spark is already weaker than we would like it for the procedure."

"So then what? When will you do the surgery?"

"Well Ratchet's not here at the moment and I don't have the authority to make that call or the expertise. I've only done one main line repairing surgery in my life and that ended badly. The best I can come up with for now is just having the surgery room ready to go in an instant once Ratchet and Hoist get over here, and until then I'll have my optics on Bee every klick," First Aid said.

The young medic paused for a moment and smiled at Ironhide, "Don't worry. Bee is a tough little mech. No doubt Primus is looking after him."

"That's what I've been trying to tell him," Bumblebee said, laughing lightly.

"You need more," First Aid said, breaking the good mood as he saw the near empty energon containers connected to the feeds on the yellow mech.

A few breems after receiving a fresh batch of energon, Bumblebee couldn't stop himself from falling back into a much-needed recharge just as Hoist arrived with Optimus and Jazz.

"How is he?" Optimus immediately asked when he saw the youngling offline, "Where is Ratchet?"

"I convinced the CMO to get some rest. He was on edge and if he didn't relax he could be too high strung for the surgery. At the moment he should be with Wheeljack," Ironhide told his leader making sure his voice carried so the two medics talking to each other near by could hear as well where their superior was.

Optimus nodded slowly but said nothing, watching the yellow bot from where they sat.

"Vitals have improved slightly with the rise in his temp. He will be stable till Ratchet wakes," Hoist said a few joors later after checking over the youngling again. They weren't taking anything to chance by running scans over Bumblebee at least once a joor and checking his vitals every breem.

"I'm good to go," the familiar voice greeted them.

"Are you sure?" First Aid asked but he could clearly see the change in the medic and from the way Wheeljack was standing by his side at ease said the two were more than ready to get back to work.

"Yes. Prep the room."

"Already done. We feared his condition would worsen quickly and had it ready just in case."

Ratchet was surprised but gave them a rare smile of praise before going over to the drug cabinet to get an anesthetic for Bumblebee. While the CMO prepared the youngling, the two medics and Wheeljack sterilized themselves and waited in the room for him and Bumblebee.

Jazz, with Optimus and Ironhide each took to a comfortable chair in the main area and waited eagerly for a successful surgery.

Several joors later Hoist came out, a worried look on his face but he said nothing to them, completely focused on what he had to do before disappearing back into the room.

"What do you think is going on?" Jazz asked. The light mood seemed to have darkened a bit at the foreboding feeling that was beginning to weigh heavily on them. Ratchet had said the surgery should have only taken three joors.

Their attention was caught by First Aid's appearance next as the medic rushed to the crate of energon and grabbed as much as he could.

"Help me, quick!" he told the three that were watching him in alarm.

Optimus jumped up immediately and ran over with Jazz. Ironhide too was making his way over but just wasn't quiet well enough to be rushing around so quickly.

"Slag it, First Aid!" Ratchet yelled from with in the room, "Get your aft in here!"

First Aid scooped a bit more and disappeared the next klick leaving the three mechs at the crate with out a word. Thinking Ratchet might need more, Optimus took the initiative to keep gathering energon before going over to the door and knocking on it with his knee announcing he had more energon.

"Thank Primus," Wheeljack said, taking it quickly and passing it over to Hoist who was beside him and now had an energon stain smeared across his front.

He couldn't see Bumblebee or the other two medics behind the curtain but Ratchet shifted slightly and Optimus eye immediately caught the energon-splattered medic shaking his head and probably muttering curses to himself or orders to First Aid.

"Thanks," Wheeljack said taking that last of the energon and with a small smile, close the door without another word.

However, Optimus couldn't find the programming to move back away from the door to sit down again. He didn't want to leave, more like he felt he couldn't. Ever fiber of his frame was yelling at him to rush in and hold the youngling in his arms and whisper words of encouragement to fight and pull through. But, Jazz was there and put a hand on his arm, tugging him gently, pulling him away.

Eventually, Jazz took him back to his chair and Optimus could do no more but drop into his seat and hide his head in his hands.

So they sat and breems dragged by, melding into joors as a few supporters came and went until no one realized just how long it had been when the door opened again.

They all jumped up, including the new additions of Sunstreaker and Blur.

Ratchet was still covered with energon, and his frame wrought with grief. The others that followed behind him showed the same as the CMO though none were as bloody.

The med bay was absolutely silent as they went to the back to clean themselves off without a word to the onlookers.

The only to come out from the back was Ratchet; the others could be seen hesitating to step into the open. It immediately set Optimus and Ironhide on high alert, causing them to stand quickly, upturning their chairs in the rush.

"Ratchet?" Optimus asked when the medic said nothing. He just stood still and quite not allowing himself to look into the optics of the two most concerned mechs in the room.

The increasing silence began to take it's toll on Ironhide as the weapon specialist felt the paralyzing fear running a course through him, threatening to shut him down.

"Primus, no…" Optimus gasped taking a step back.

"No!" Ratchet yelped, his head snapping up finally looking to his leader, "No, he's alive."

"Then spit it out!" Ironhide roared.

"It wasn't good," he said, his voice strangled.

"Ratchet, please," Optimus begged, he needed to know.

"I replaced the energon reserve successfully and all other damage done to his body has been repaired. It just the critical part of the surgery didn't go as planned."

"Ratchet!" Ironhide growled, ready to throttled the mech for not saying what was really going on.

Ratchet took a deep breath before letting out a shaky response to the threat.

"His main line split."

Ironhide gasped, swaying and Optimus didn't even remember falling until he felt Jazz and Sunny easing him down to a chair. Blur was holding Ironhide up.

"What else?" Optimus managed to ask a moment later.

"He instantly went critical, nearly losing all the energon in his system. I thought…I thought I was going to lose him right then. No one has ever been able to repair a split main line."

"Wait, youputitbacktogether?" Blur gasped.

"Not exactly but yes. It wasn't easy. He might need another surgery later down the road to recovery. With the NMDs in place, they should be doing their job. Right now we're worried about the increase in the amount of energon he is loosing."

"What are you saying exactly?" Sunstreaker asked, "What is going on with Bumblebee?"

"His recovery will be much longer and the damage to his system was very bad. I couldn't do anything to reverse it."

"What. Damn it Ratchet," Ironhide yelled, finally steady again, "just say it!"

Ratchet had to take a step back, as he found himself mute again, but First Aid went to his side, leaving the safety of the curtain hiding the medics.

Grateful for the much needed support, Ratchet took a few more moments to grasp a hold of his emotions better and looked at Optimus directly before managing to choke out the answer, the reason to all the spark ache and pain.

"He's in third lock stasis."

Optimus froze but none were prepared when Ironhide's systems gave an alarming screech and he collapsed to the floor, offline.

* * *

**_CLARIFICATION:_** I know that there are no stages of stasis normally but I changed it up a bit in this story. (my story, my rules) ;P

**First lock stasis:** more commonly known as being unconsious or knocked out by medical drugs. (Recharge is sleeping but most know that.)  
**Second lock stasis:** the equivalent to a coma, considered a very serious and dangerous condition.  
**Third lock stasis:** the worst condition for any Cybertronian to be in. It's the same to pronouncing some one is brain dead and there is nothing anyone can do to change that.

Also, I didn't really point it out earlier in the story but the main line (if it even exsist on a transformer) is the same as a human's aortic artery but is just incredibly hard to repair. For those who might not know what the aortic artery is. It's the largest and most important artery in the human body. You could not live without immediate medical help if it severes. You would easily die in seconds due to massive internal hemorrhaging. *isn't medical knowledge fun?* ^.^

So on that happy note, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it wasn't too confusing. I had to kind of change the tactic of where the story was headed to do this properly but it's not a loss and hopefully will make the story more enjoyable in the long run.

Reviews please!


	8. Hiding Isn't Always The Best Idea

**_IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR STORY: PLEASE READ!_**

Ok, this is so you guys don't start reading and wonder what the heck happened.  
Now, some of you will think I'm crazy but I love Mirage, not as much as Cade and Bee, and I've always thought of _him_ as a _femme_. Don't ask me why because I haven't a clue, but Mirage has always came over to me as a femme. Besides, what's better than a bad ass female spy? Only Mirage will have a gender change during this story, all other mechs and femmes will stay as they are.

Also, I hardly remember most of the jobs for other Autobots and have labeled a few as espionage even if that's what they'er not suppose to be.

Autobot Espionage Agents:

Blurr  
Hound  
Jazz  
Mirage  
Repugnus  
Searchlight  
Streetwise  
Sureshot

***note*** There are numerous Autobot scouts and in my personal opinion they do not fall under espionage so they are not listed. Also, Bumblebee is not a scout in this story or at all in my mind. I find him as a pure espionage mech with a blend of multiple talents. A Decepticon espionage list will be posted later on in the story when needed.

The new chapter for Incompatible will be up later today or even as late as tomorrow night since I didn't have time to write it till last night and will need time to properly review. There is a slim possiblity it might not come out till next week since I've hit a bit of a writer's block. Anyways, this chapter was looked over and over again with a fine toothed comb and I fear some things still might have slipped through the cracks. Also, this chapter is much longer than I originally intended but I hope it is good.

Another thing I think I might need to clarify. This story will have absolutly no human to mech contact or even speak of the world Earth, meaning there are no days, years, hours, and such. Instead, try to think of it as one breem is one minute, one joor is one hour, one orn is one day, and one vorn is one year for them, normally one breem is like 6min and a orn is like 13days so you get the picture. I'm sure most of you have already picked up on that but like I said, I just wanted to clarify.

Last, there is one fight scene in this chapter but the potiential for two was there yet I cut it down to a few simple sentences without much description. Now, if you guys would like more fighting let me know and if just one fight scene per chapter is good enough let me know. Either way, you gotta speak up.

Enjoy and Review Please (I can never stress enough for reviews. I'm a review junky, always looking for the next fix.)

* * *

Third lock stasis, or more commonly known as Death's grip, was the worst thing a medic could ever speak of. Once an unfortunate soul fell into third lock stasis, he or she would never return to the land of living. It was impossible, not one had ever survived in the history of all Cybertronians down to the first created. Instead they would slowly slip away as their sparks faded and the process sometimes took countless orns before it was accomplished; yet no matter what, there was only one ending result.

It was any Cybertronian's nightmare and easily caused gloom and depression to settle on those who merely spoke of it. Because of its dark nature, it was safe for any to assume the result of having a loved one given such a diagnosis would be excruciatingly painful. So, as the CMO's devastating words hung heavily in the loud silence of the med bay, it was spark-wrenchingly clear Ratchet had just given their beloved youngling a death sentence.

It took a few breems for everyone to get over their varying stages of shock while the two medics checked over the offline Ironhide to make sure the sudden onset of stress hadn't affected his energon reserves. Finally, with Ironhide back in his bed, the others began to move sluggishly around not really knowing what to do next. Optimus could only be settled with staying by Bumblebee's side and completely forgetting about his duties. Both Sunstreaker and Jazz had slunked out of the med bay together in silence as they found it upon their shoulders to get the word out of the bad news. Wheeljack left with the prompting of his partner, Ratchet, while the two younger medics stayed behind with the CMO. They had emergency beds in the back of the med bay and were going to use them, knowing they would be unable to deal the grief they would find outside the doors in the faces of Artemis' crew.

As the end of the orn came, Optimus was still at the youngling's side just watching him silently. It tore at the leader's spark that the yellow mech was no longer moving or coughing, and what was worse was that he knew Bumblebee would never well do such again. The feeling of Bumblebee through their bond was gone. All that he could feel was that the spark was alive. There was no interaction or sign that the very soul that Bumblebee was still existed. And physically, the youngling's spark was still there, but as in all third lock stasis cases, the spark was unwilling to inhabit the frame and slowly withdrew till it faded, starting with the processor before vacating its presence in other vital systems. In some sense it gave the old battle worn mech slight relief that Bumblebee was no longer suffering and pain free. There was no choking coughs or shakes of pain; the youngling was finally in a strange stage of peace. And as he watched Bumblebee, the Autobot leader was certain, absolutely positive he would not be strong enough to survive the separation once the small mech fully joined the matrix in spark and soul, but that suited Optimus just fine. He was more than willing to meet up again with his youngling in the afterlife where he would see those baby blue optics light up and wash away all the sorrow and worries from even the worst of orns.

Outside the med bay, news spread like an energon-fueled fire and it seemed nearly every soldier on board had come and gone from Bumblebee's side. They mostly stayed for only a few breems, watching the motionless mech silently or even whispering something into his deaf audio receptors. However, there were more severe moments. At Sunstreaker's visit, the tough interior armor of the twin had melted away as he knelt by Bumblebee's side while his brother stood just behind him, a hand on his shoulder for support and comfort that gave the grieving Bot much needed strength to say his goodbyes. Jazz, his mourning silent and solemn, had been so distraught that Ratchet called Prowl away from his duties, something the medic was sure to only due in extreme cases, to coax his partner away from the youngling's side to get some much needed rest.

Still, the one mech that was giving no outward appearance of what was really raging through his systems was Optimus. He could tell the visitors could sense his lack of emotion and reaction to their own sadness, but it didn't matter. What he needed was his old friend, Ironhide. The weapon specialist had yet to come back online after collapsing, but Ratchet reassured him the big mech was fine, yet Optimus felt as if he was going crazy holding in the powerful onslaught of emotions. Only Ironhide, the appointed guardian of Bumblebee, could truly know a fraction of his pain. The Autobot leader couldn't take this grief alone. It was too consuming for one mech alone. Sunstreaker's earlier display held no flame to Optimus' pain.

Despite Optimus' lack in picking back up his duties like he should have, Prowl was quick to realize it was time for him step up from second command to take his leader's role till Optimus could resume his work.

It was another orn before Ironhide finally came online but all he could allow himself to do was sit down next to Bumblebee as Optimus had done and wait. Neither spoke to each other but they didn't need to as their presence together shared the grief and gave a small amount of comfort to the guardians.

Agonizing orns dragged by and still Bumblebee hadn't changed, getting no worse but also no better. The few times that one of the guardians left the youngling's side, never at the same time, the others on the ship had been quick to get out of their way. Ironhide had more than devastated the firing range and Optimus had no patience, giving harsh punishments to a mech who so much as looked at him. In turn, it had the temporary leader, Prowl stressing. He confident Optimus' short fuse had caused the recent random brawls between fellow soldiers as they stressed over their uncalled for punishments, and Ironhide's rage had done more damage single-handedly than a full out Decepticon attack since he some times didn't have the patience to make it to the firing range.

However, Prowl really had no desire to know if such was true but he would soon find out as the alarm for attack sounded ten orns after Bumblebee had fallen into third stasis lock.

The two mechs were together in the med bay when the alarm sounded. Immediately they jumped to their feet, Ironhide's optics blazing and Optimus growling out ideas of what he would do to any Decepticons he got his hands on. By their reasoning, it had been the Decepticons' fault as to why Bumblebee was in the condition he was now. They had caused the initial injury, delayed the shipment with the much-needed energon and medical supplies, and stolen the last of their energon reserves. The mechs were out for energon, and a lot of it.

None were prepared as they readied for the attack as they saw the crazed look in their leader's optics that mirrored Ironhide's as the two stood side by side. The weapon specialist had done his job well as his friend stood by his side carrying a new weapon upgrade consisting of a very accurate and deadly plasma cannon. It was not the Prime the Autobots knew and they all kept a safe distance, not wanting to hamper the duo's movements or accidentally get in the way of their evident bloodlust.

The battle started off with quite a bang as it seemed some of the grief and rage towards the Decepticons for Bumblebee's condition was fueling the Autobots. While they didn't match their leader and weapon specialist's incredible fury, it was more than enough to give most Decepticons pause and rethink if they really wanted their afts handed to them. Still, prompted by orders unknown to the Autobots, the Decepticons reluctantly continued their attack.

A joor later, as the brutal battle raged through out various sections of the ship, none had made the connection that the Con leader, Megatron, had yet to be spotted. It was standard procedure to inform all fellow soldiers of the mech's presence during battle to help send reinforcements, or the one mech that could deal with Megatron, Optimus Prime.

Over time, Hoist, First Aid, and Wheeljack had all been dispatched out separately as the battle went on responding to calls for medical help while Ratchet remained behind to both guard the med bay and watch over Bumblebee. However, the battle grew too intense for only three medics to help with wounded and Ratchet reluctantly left believing none would really come to the area since the fighting was in distant parts of the ship. Ratchet, of course, wouldn't find he was very wrong about his assumption until a few joors later.

It was quite easy for Megatron to find the med bay as he used his bond with the youngling to find the room. He entered quietly and as suspected, Ratchet wasn't waiting to greet him. The Decepticon leader had been sure to bring his most ruthless and brutal fighters to this mission to drag the medics out of their med bay and keep all the Autobots' attentions on the battle.

The med bay was completely silent at he instantly knew what curtain Bumblebee was hidden behind. It gave Megatron reason to pause seeing the youngling in his current condition and after reading some of the monitors he looked back down at the yellow mech.

"Third lock stasis? That medic needs more training," Megatron said then began rummaging through the small bag he brought with him.

"Now, I told you we would meet out on the battle field and I meant it. If only your slaggin medic knew a bit more about bonds that might have been now. Nonetheless, I at least know what I'm doing," he continued, now pulling out a few electrical transferring wires and strange tools, "and I guess it falls to me since these fools know nothing."

Picking up one of the tools, Megatron took it to Bumblebee's chest and worked quickly but effectively. The covering over a spark and spark casting could only be opened by medics and special tools or in the moments of interface. It was less than a breem later everything had slid away to show a soft light blue spark pulsing for any to see if they were to walk into the med bay that moment. Megatron then began a more complicated task of taking the wires and attaching them various areas around Bumblebee's inner chest cavity before he paused and opened up his armor to his own spark. A few more wires were put into place and he drew out one long thick black transfer cable. Feeding it directly into his own red spark, Megatron couldn't suppress the grimace at the horrible feeling before leaning over Bumblebee and touching the other end to the youngling's fading spark.

A bright white flash of light fill the room before it dimmed down. But what would have caught any others, that weren't in the room presently, by surprise was the sudden gasp and cry from Bumblebee. The reaction had the youngling arching his back violently as if in intense pain and his optics flickered off and on rapidly. During this time, Megatron was disconnecting everything quickly and allowing their sparks to become shielded again.

Finally, Bumblebee collapsed onto the bed, gasping and beginning to overheat at the sudden return to life as he tried to get his bearing on his surroundings. While he waited for his vision to focus, he felt some one close and with a tug from his spark he looked over just as Megatron came into focus.

"Megatron?" he asked in confusion, forcing himself to sit as the Decepticon was near done packing up all the equipment.

"I will see you in this war and it is then I will not be so generous," he growled, the only answer he would grant to Bumblebee before stalking out the door.

It took Bumblebee a while to process what had just happened but he was quickly alert and began pulling the wires and tubes Ratchet put in place free from his frame. He slid off the bed slowly, stood up on wobbly legs, and stumbled about the room trying to get control of his limbs before attempting to leave.

He had to admit he felt surprisingly good other than the small amount of energon still filling his breathing tanks, but despite the discomfort, he jumped up and down, everything responding as it should before he was injured.

"Here we go," Bumblebee said, ready for another battle and powered up his cannon while slipping out his blade on his free arm. The youngling was sure to keep to stealth incase he needed the upper hand in a surprise attack on any loan Decepticons he came upon.

Such training came swiftly into play, as the first he ran into had been Bruticus. The mech was big and strong but he was just too large for the quick antics of Bumblebee who pulled a very familiar move he used on Starscream in the last battle before the Con sank to his knees and fell forward, heavily, offline.

Not even getting a yard away from Bruticus's still frame, Bumblebee came to a halt when he saw his least favorite Decepticon glaring at him, Starscream.

"Youngling, I thought you would be dead from the way your leader is fighting so passionately for and what Megatron told us before hand," he laughed.

Bumblebee could only smile as he shifted his frame, ready to fight. He truly enjoyed giving the coward Con humiliation by offlining him with ease in their last encounter.

"Come, fighting a dead mech can't be too hard," he taunted.

Starscream narrowed his optics at the words but only a klick later they crashed into each other, never minding that one was a seeker and the other a spy, neither particularly built for hand to hand combat. However, they didn't need their core programming to tell them this was a personal battle that needed to be dealt with in close proximity for the hatred they radiated off towards one another.

The two clashed with a tremendous force that sent the sounds of the collision echoing throughout the halls of Artemis, but there was a raging battle and the alert of a coming nasty fight was lost in the yells and explosions of the war.

Cannon melding back to his arm left Bumblebee only with his energon sword out sword while Starscream withdrew two energon daggers from one of his subspace containers. Seekers usually didn't get arm blades, in fact, most mechs didn't. Props of being Ironhide's charge. The initial slamming into each other had knocked the two to the ground and as they wrestled they realized they probably didn't start off in a position for either of them to excel in that moment. Still, they continued their struggle and fought to gain the upper hand. For once, Bumblebee's size was going against him and it was all he could do to keep Starscream from reaching down to cut or rip out vulnerable cords and wires in his neck. Steadily, the youngling was losing as the seeker changed his mind and was instead pressing a dagger down towards Bumblebee's chest to sink the sharp metal through his spark chamber.

The youngling managed to keep his calm and thought back to a time he was sparring with Sunstreaker. The golden twin had pinned him down in a similar fashion Starscream was doing and had thought for sure of victory. However, Bumblebee had different plans and following the memory in real time, he bucked his hips upwards, throwing the larger mech forward slightly, and aligining his head just right for the smaller mech to smash his helm up and under Con's chin, successfuly dazing the seeker.

It was easy then to slip free and to his feet. Starscream growled curses at the surprise attack but recovered quickly enough, jumping to his own feet.

Bumblebee gave the Decepticon another rude smile before he darted forward. The seeker was waiting, anticipating the move he would make and standing ready for defense, but what he didn't realize was the youngling's quick ability to improvise as Bumblebee used his charging momentum to fall to his knees, slide underneath Starscream's prepared defense, and swipe out to cut a long, deep wound in his left leg.

The Decepticon howled in a mixture of rage and pain, nearly earning his namesake but none the less he regained his senses quickly enough to block Bumblebee's next attack as the youngling jumped from his kneeling position and twisted around 180 degrees across Starscream's back to stab through the seeker's right wing. They jumped away for a moment and Bumblebee couldn't help but give a smile of victory as he saw the Decepticon's leg was leaking considerable amounts of energon on the floor. Taking note, Bumblebee already had a plan formulating to use it in a future attack.

"A youngling too much for ya, Screamer? Need a sparkling, maybe you can handle that at least," he yelled. The red optics flickered dangerously as they promised a painful death. Bumblebee only laughed in response and dropped to a crouch to dodge a vicious straightforward swipe from two energon daggers. He took the opportunity, while ducked by Starscream's leg, to dig into the wiring and find the one he really wanted. However, the search took slightly longer than anticipated and was instead rewarded with a dagger slamming down in the back of his right shoulder. Biting off a cry, Bumblebee ripped the wire out as he jumped away, jerking free of the dagger before its twin could come down and make corresponding contact.

The seeker showed more surprised than pain once the youngling tumbled a safe distance away. He gave his leg an incredulous look when he realized the processes for the relays directing movement acted sluggishly. It seemed there was more to these medic techniques the small mech knew than basic off lining maneuvers.

"I'm a bit disappointed, I expected more," Bumblebee said and it was truthful. He had feared a worse battle. It was granted, however, when Starscream howled with rage and flew at Bumblebee, as a seeker has no need in his legs during battle. The youngling dodged at the last second, threw his blade up towards the passing form of the seeker, and sliced into the tip of a wing. Doing minimal damage, it only enraged Starscream further and he swooped back around. Bumblebee was sure it would be another fly by attack and crouched, ready to spring up and slice at the mech when he flew over head again but was instead caught off guard suddenly when the Con dropped from flight, grabbed onto him as he fell, and used the youngling's body as a cushion.

Bumblebee groaned at the heavy impact that jarred his repairing main line and forced some energon up, out of his mouth. Starscream smirked, thinking the coughing was a success of internal damage. He stood, savoring what he thought was victory till Bumblebee's legs kicked out, digging into the back of one knee, and sent the much larger mech crashing back down to the ground. The youngling immediately pounced on his enemy and stabbed straight down without hesitation. A long agonizing scream of pain admitted successful contact. In return, one of Starscream's arms reflexively arched out and the dagger sliced up along the side of the youngling's left arm, the mere force cutting deep into the secondary energon lines. Bumblebee ignored the pain and lifted his sword again to stab back down and hopefully ended the fight once and for all, but Starscream had better ideas than laying on the ground and getting skewered. The Decepticon decided to copy Bumblebee's earlier move and jolted his hips up, only this time the strength of the dislodge from a larger mech sent the youngling flying off Starscream over his head so the yellow mech landed smartly on his aft.

"Slag it, you fraggin scrap heap of worthless fraggin metal," Bumblebee cursed and got back up slowly. Starscream was already on his feet. His daggers eagerly waited, each already having tasted such sweet energon from the youngling.

"This needs to end fast," he muttered to himself quietly and noticed that the seeker's systems had finally rerouted some of the electrical pulses in his damaged right leg to give temporary stability and was now trusting to be on his feet again. Smirking, Bumblebee began walking around in a circle-like pattern towards Starscream. The Decepticon didn't know what the youngling was planning and warily followed suite so the two were now face to face, turning around in a circle as an animal and it's predator would. Finally, Bumblebee came to a slow halt once the larger mech was in position.

"I have to ask," Bumblebee said casually as if they were having a diplomatic discussion before his voice warped and became mixed with degradation and ire, "Did Megatron reject you or were you too much scum in his eyes to be worthy of a mate?"

"You fraggin slagger. I'll weld your aft to my wall as a trophy!" Starscream screamed in response to the insult and even took a step forward in advance to play out on his threat.

That was exactly what the youngling was waiting for. Bumblebee darted forward and got the reaction he expected. Starscream was caught off guard and froze in the exact pose needed for a balance upset as the youngling tackled into the seeker's side. Normally, such a small frame would find it near impossible to budge a much larger one, but Bumblebee's tactics weren't normal and unknown to the unbalanced seeker the pool energon, leaked from his leg wound earlier and had collected into a sizable puddle, was still very much present beneath his feet. So, as the mech struggled to keep up right and steady from the blow, he instinctively sidestepped to even out his sudden off set of weight. Just as Bumblebee had planned, the large mech's foot came down right on the slick liquid, and sent them both crashing hard to the ground. However, the youngling had the scenario already laid out and easily kept his wits about him after the painful impact, and immediately dug his hand into the neck/shoulder junction and searched quickly for the exact sensitive wiring needed to send the Decepticon into a forced, second lock stasis. It was a move Ratchet had been wary of teaching the youngling but eventually he gave into the spark-melting baby-blue optic-stare of Bumblebee's infamous way of asking, "please?" like so many others before him.

"No!" Starscream yelled and began to screech a noise that was more frustration than words while franticly wrapping a free hand over the youngling's wrist to try and break the gears before the damage was done. He was incredibly desperate to not repeat their last encounter, but with a smirk and a twist of Bumblebee's deft fingers, the seeker's optics immediately darkened and the Decepticon's form went lax.

For a moment, Bumblebee remained on top of the offline seeker and allowed his frame to cool and let the rush of fight leave him. However, he knew he couldn't just lay exposed on a Decepticon's frame in the middle of a battle and forced himself up, grunting at the effort. Shrugging his shoulders to loosen up the pain from when he slammed into Starscream, he noticed his blade still had a light coat of energon on it and cleaned it off on the seeker before allowing it to slip back up into his arm smoothly. It felt as if he had just let Sunstreaker have free reign in beating him into a pulp or maybe allowed Ironhide to use his frame as a target during practice.

"Bumblebee!" someone yelled from the intersection of the hallway.

It was Mirage.

"Hey," and a small smile and wave, was all he could manage at the moment as he was still recovering from the sudden loss of the rushing energy during the battle. He nearly chuckled as he saw she was frozen to the spot at the simple sight of seeing him.

The happy reunion was short lived when he suddenly saw a dark shape down the hallway behind his mentor.

"Mirage!" he cried out, running over to her as the Decepticon sharpshooter aimed at her back.

He barely managed to get her out of harm's way by tackling her in much the same fashion he did to Starscream earlier. They landed a hard impact on their sides and the force of the youngling's blow sent them sliding across the floor into one of the adjoining hallways.

Coming to a screeching halt, Bumblebee needed to pause for a moment before he could get back up as the harsh hit had again jarred more energon into his breathing tanks and causing him to cough up a bit.

Mirage stood and finally blinked, snapping back to reality.

"I don't know why or how, but you're here," she said, quickly regaining her calm, "Come, we need to hide. I had six on my tail. That fragger was probably a scout."

Without needing much prompting, Bumblebee and Mirage instantly blended to the shadows and the older Bot was very pleased to see the youngling was excelling in his training. They continued down the hallway, waiting for another intersection to try and hide but she stopped short. Just out their optical range, they could see five Decepticon slowly walking up, scanning the hallway as they went by.

"A search and destroy squad," she whispered to Bumblebee indicating that the group was sent out to quietly dispatch those hiding or roaming the ship alone during the battle when none could hear their cries for help. What really had her scared was not the mission of these five Decepticons to seek and kill, but the fact that she and her espionage youngling were trapped in a hallway with no rooms or means to escape between one group of six, the other of five, Decepticons.

Mirage was at a complete loss and gave Bumblebee a fearful look but he only grinned and motioned silently for her to follow him. They turned around and went back to the bend in the hallway where neither approaching group would be able to see them until they turned the corner when Bumblebee stopped and pointed up. Above them was a small emergency, subspace compartment that held fire-fighting equipment and looked like it could fit one mech inside, or very snuggly, two smaller than norm espionage mechs. With a shrug, Mirage figured it was their best bet and allowed Bumblebee to give her a boost up as she typed in the code before scrambling up inside. She rearranged some of the equipment to give them more room then leaned down, extending a hand to pull Bumblebee up. He quickly got himself inside and reached down to pull the trap door close but paused.

"What is it?" she hissed sensing something was wrong.

"It auto locks with a pad only allowing access from the outside," he explained. He didn't want to put them from one death trap into another.

"We don't have time to worry about it. Just close it and we'll take our chances," she said. And not a moment too soon it clicked close quietly just as they heard the Decepticons approaching. They said no more. Silence was key in their survival.

"Where are they!" one Decepticon boomed beneath them. The small space seemed to magnify the deep voice.

"I don't know. We didn't see any one come out," one of them whimpered in fear. There was a bang of metal on metal and a yelp of pain before the voice yelled again.

"There are no rooms between here and there and all the windows are sealed which means they must have come through! Do not lie to me!"

"No, no, Commander. I swear."

They could hear the other five of six Decepticons that were following Mirage echo the frantic coward's answer. It was apparent there was one search and destroy squad, usually composed of higher ups in the ranks, and one roughly assembled group of scrap heaps that were just bodies for the Autobots to shoot at and officers to hide behind.

They froze, as there was a loud roar of rage then a crash directly below them.

"Espionage Bots or not, they could not get past us without being seen, or yourselves. Search this place top to bottom!"

Beneath their feet they felt the trapdoor jiggle a couple of times as a few frantic Decepticons attempted to open the hatch but with out the code they left it be soon enough. Mirage and Bumblebee couldn't help but breathe simultaneous sighs of relief, as it seemed there were no hackers in the group. They would have been slag if Frenzy were with them. Eventually they hear the group slowly moving down the hallway searching every nook and cranny.

As the sounds below them grew distant and muffled, Bumblebee was unable to hold in the filling his breathing takes had been doing and doubled over as he allowed a short rush of energon to purge itself as he gagged quietly, refusing to cough. Mirage was silent, giving him a concerned glance as the bright energon glowed in the darkness other than their optics.

"Sorry," he mouth, wiping his face and she nodded silently before looking back down at the door at their feet as if she could see right through it.

There a few more arguments but they were far off and soon it was silent below.

Mirage sighed and sat back, relieved they had actually gotten out of that one. What a story it would be to tell their fellow espionage friends.

"Can't get to the lock," Bee muttered, "Slag Preceptor, Red Alert, Wheeljack, or whom ever it was who made this thing too good to get into!"

"We're stuck here till the battle is over it seems. I think the metal is messing with my comm. or it was the fall when you pushed me out of the way. What about yours?"

"Nope, but it might have been damaged with my fight with Starscream," he said, "I guess we'll have to wait it out."

"So, tell me, my young protégé, how is it you got out of Death's grip," she asked, hunkering down and watching him with intelligent optics.

"Don't honestly know. I just remember coming to and seeing Megatron looking down at me. He promised we would meet on the battlefield one day and left suddenly. I have no idea what was going on."

Mirage was surprised. She never thought Megatron the type to save lives.

"Was I really in third lock stasis?" Bumblebee asked quietly as he thought of the pain it must have put his guardians through.

"Yes. The surgery went very badly. It's been ten orns since. The ship was devastated with the news. Jazz and Sunstreaker took it the hardest other than Prime and Ironhide of course."

"How are they?"

"Not good. They took it really badly, Bee," that's one thing Bumblebee like about working with Mirage. If she knew some one well enough she wouldn't jerk him or her around and just came out and said what needed to be known.

"I can't imagine how they'll react when they see that you're gone," she continued, "Still, despite all that, their fighting is incredible. We've all seen Ironhide in a rage but most of us have only heard of Optimus' legendary fighting skills. I've never seen him so enraged or desperate to kill Decepticons and Ironhide did his duty to give our leader good weapon upgrades. On top of that, they used tactics I've never seen and I don't think even the twins would try, but they did it almost as if they had fought together like such before. Those two were their own team. I almost pity the Con that come before them, almost."

Bumblebee laughed lightly at the end but was unable to suppress a rough cough.

"Sorry, it's my main line. Energon leaks into my breathing tanks and soon is too full and you see what happens," he explained when she winced.

Mirage nodded, her optics locked on to the energon dripping down Bumblebee's frame. It was then she saw his other injuries.

"That fragger did a good number on you," Mirage said, noting the long nasty cut along the entire length of his arm.

"Yeah, well you saw what I did to him in turn," Bumblebee said, unable to keep himself from smirking. Mirage could only smile and shake her head. It amazed her that a mech his size could take down a Con as devious as Starscream single-handedly and the previous battle he had actually killed three earning the highest total out of all the Autobots that orn.

With nothing more to say, they sat in silence for a few joors, but neither minded it. It was similar to practice. Once, Mirage had Bumblebee hold a very uncomfortable position for nearly an entire orn without being allowed to speak. Ratchet had nearly blown a gasket when the youngling was all but dragged into the med bay because all the gears in one leg had locked. Some how, despite Ratchet's ability to not be swayed from his temper, Mirage had easily slipped free from the wrath of the hatchet and changed the medic's attitude to benefit her instead.

Bumblebee had always like that Mirage was quick and easy to worm out of trouble and by watching her in action, he eventually grew better at his own silvertounge but did not quite match her skill yet.

"Do you think it's past?" he asked, hesitant to break the silence, but Mirage didn't seem to mind the interruption.

The older espionage agent only shrugged. Neither one of them could possibly know until they here an Autobot come down that hall, and even if the battle was over, they had no idea just how long that would be.

"We could be stuck here for some time. Try and get some rest, I'll take the first shift," Mirage said after giving her thoughts some time before answering Bumblebee. The youngling nodded, content. He completely trusted his trainer and easily slipped into a recharge.

It was several joors later before she woke him to switch roles.

During his long processor-numbing shift, Bumblebee did what he could to pass the time and yet remain alert. Usually he ran his mind over the old puzzles and riddles Mirage had taught him. Finally the marker for an orn since the battle began, came and passed, and the youngling sighed, there hadn't been one sound of hope. However, he held hope that the Autobots would do their usual walking around the ship to check over all damages. But, as they waited, he sadly remembered it some times took a few orns to successfully go over every inch of the Artemis.

After two more shifts for each spy, they were defiantly worried. They both hadn't had energon in a long while and what if the Decepticons had actually been victorious? Mirage was exhausted since she was running on minimum capacities since the beginning of the battle, but she kept quiet when she could see the clear signs of Bumblebee falling towards deprivation because of his unique condition.

"Bee," she said as yet another shift was about to start, "I think we have no choice. We have to try and get out of here. The only way I can think of is blasting our way out."

"In such a confined space it can kill us!" he exclaimed, knowing full well of such disastrous effects after working with Wheeljack a few times.

"We'll die in here if we don't. You'll soon slip back into stasis leaving me alone and I'll follow shortly after anyways. We both needed energon an orn ago."

Bumblebee frowned but he knew Mirage was right and with a sigh asked, "Who has the smaller impact cannons?"

"Not sure. I would assume mine since it would seem logical that the one with a weapon specialist for a guardian might get slightly better upgrades that most."

Bumblebee smiled at her and shrugged helplessly. There was no way he could fight with Ironhide.

"Primus, why do I feel as if I'm going to regret this?" Mirage asked as they stood up slowly and pressed themselves against the walls as best they could in a feeble attempt to get as far away as possible from the door at their feet which would be blown open pretty soon. Bumblebee worked on her cannon for a moment and set the settings to give a minimal blast and create as little repercussion as possible. Some times there were bonuses to being the charge of a trigger-happy weapon specialist.

They stood as high up as they could in the tight space and exchanged a glance. The look between the two said so much without sound before Mirage nodded and pointed her cannon at the door, aiming for where the hinges were. This was it. Do or die and it seemed the latter was the highly likely outcome with two mechs crammed in a small, near air tight space about to shoot at a door that could in turn cause serious damage to the spies.

"Ready?" Mirage asked, needing to speak one last time, just in case.

"Can you ever be ready for this kind of thing?" he asked with a shaky laugh but she took it as a yes.

"Primus, help us," she whispered and offlined her optics. She had already aimed but didn't want to see her death coming. Taking a deep breath...

Mirage fired.

* * *

Oh NO! Another cliffhanger! Come back next week for chapter 9!

And don't forget to check out my other story Incompatible.


	9. New Discoveries

**PLEASE READ!**

I have learned over the last week from other authors on that a few stories, including mine, updated yet did not alert everyone properly. So, if you were one of those unfortunate people who didn't get to see that Chapter 8 was updated, you might want to read that before this one or else you're in for a real spoiler. However, if you did get to read it then ignore that and continue on. Alright, I know it says I was going to update Incompatible last week, that unfortunetally didn't work out. Instead it is being updated today so for those that are also reading Incompatible, make sure you make a trip over to see Chapter 4.

Another thing, it seems my genius is at it AGAIN and I have created a third transformers fic, but this time it's a simple one shot unless there is the classic case of supply and demand. It's called Broken Sparks and is a Jazz/Prowl fic. A brief warning, Broken Sparks is not like Incompatible. It is intended to be a darker story so make sure you read the warnings before reading it.

Now that I've covered everything important, enjoy the new chapter and...Review!

* * *

**BOOM!**

Surprised, Ratchet looked up from cleaning the last of the mess in left in his med bay. The explosion sounded incredibly close to be something to do with his partner. Besides, Wheeljack was too busy helping with repairs around the ship to be inventing his usual unstable experiments. Maybe it was another attack, but why hadn't the alarm gone off yet?

Abandoning what he was doing, Ratchet's saw-blade came whirring to life as he crept out from his med bay towards where he thought he heard the sound come from. Instead, he looked over when he heard running and saw it was Blur coming to join his side.

"Was that you or maybe Wheeljack?" Ratchet asked already knowing the truth from the similar surprise on the younger mech's face and knowing fully well Wheeljack's lab was on the opposite side of Artemis even if he was working with dangerous imploding items.

"No. ," he answer and sighed when the medic continued to move quietly down the hall, but Blur loyally stayed by the CMO's side despite the fact that his processor was cursing at him for getting into yet _another_unwanted situation with Decepticons. Primus just wasn't fair to the fast mech lately.

They rounded another corner and froze.

The door covering a hold for emergency equipment was blown wide open and yards away from where it should have been in a twisted ball of smoldering metal. However, what was really the focus for the two Autobots were the unmoving forms spread across the hallway.

Ratchet approached cautiously. He knew well it was a common Decepticon tactic to 'play dead' till their victim was upon them and had nowhere to run. Not informed of the same knowledge, Blur immediately darted to the closest form before Ratchet could warn him and bent over the frame, studying it.

"Mirage!" he yelled in surprise, "It'sher, thankPrimus."

Ratchet's tension eased as he knelt next to the femme and checked her over while Blur went to the other still frame.

"Uh…Ratchet," Blur said, his voice dragging out the name as the usual rapid speed of his speech slowed down at an alarming rate and immediately caught the medic's attention. The situation was serious if it was enough to give the speedster pause.

Quickly going over to see what caught Blur off guard, the CMO gasped when he looked over the smaller mech's shoulder.

"Bee!"

Within the next joor, Artemis was abuzz with the recent discover of the two missing soldiers and it was only klicks after the discovery that Optimus and Ironhide came running up the hallway and crashed through the door to the med bay.

Ratchet did not take kindly to the response and was already waiting with wrenches in hand as he heard them thundering up the hallway, so when the door burst open two of his heaviest projectiles went flying. Naturally, after being around the medic so long, Optimus had a second sense to when he fragged off Ratchet and his gut was telling him to duck as they entered. A heavy clang and cry from Ironhide had told the Autobot leader exactly why that was.

"Stop right there you pit slaggin dumbafts!" Ratchet yelled picking up another two heavy wrenches, "You better not move another inch into my med bay!"

Ironhide, disorientated by the hard blow, was instead focused on the pain and didn't hear the medic as he moved forward to sit in the nearest chair.

"What the slag!" he roared as another dent was painfully added to his head.

"I said freeze!"

Optimus still hadn't moved, his the experience dealing with the medic in many rages before had him remain stuck to his crouching like pose waiting for the CMO to calm so he could uncurl, but Ratchet wasn't done with them yet.

"You fraggers come running in here like a bunch of slaggin sparklings causing mayhem and destruction to my door. I should weld your afts to the ceiling for the next hundred vorns!"

"Slag it Ratchet, we're sorry," Ironhide muttered, unwisely interrupting the medic's tirade of anger towards them. Optimus flinched before he even heard a third successful contact knowing full well what was coming. No one could interrupt Ratchet and expect to walk out unharmed; Ironhide was learning that the hard way as he nursed an exceptionally large dent on the bridge of his nose. Thankfully those blows to the head seemed knocked a logic circuit back in place because, to the surprise of Optimus, Ironhide managed to rein his temper in and gave no angry retort back at the Hatchet.

"Look," he said, calming and not moving to refresh his ammo of wrenches from the sizeable pile by his side, "I know what you heard but you have to remain calm. What if Bee had been recharging and you just came in here and woke him up with all this?"

The two guardians felt guilt now. They had only thought to get to the youngling as soon as possible.

"Slag," Ratchet cursed then grinned making the two mechs frozen in stiff positions think Ratchet was beginning to lose his processor, "what's happened is too great to stay mad at you aftheads."

They nearly crashed to the ground as the tension flooded from their frames and allow a smile to creep back on to their own faces for the first time in orns. From the sides of the med bay, the shocked silent onlookers being taken care of by three other medics began laughing, mostly at Ironhide's expense.

Yes, Ratchet was beaming like a fool but none could blame him. He had been the first to discover Bumblebee was missing when he went back to the med bay after checking over many injured mechs and deciding who would come back with First Aid, Hoist, and Wheeljack while Ratchet prepared. Instead of finding it in the same condition as he left it, the medic found it destroyed. It was no doubt a Decepticon scavenging group had come by and cleaned out the med bay of what they thought were useful items. What really terrified the medic was that Bumblebee was missing and feared it may have instead been a search and destroy group. Such groups had been known to spare none, not even those left unprotected in med bays. It devastated the CMO as he thought of the many brutal ways Bumblebee could have been dragged off and killed or put on display for grotesque pleasure of victory, and although the youngling had been in third stasis lock Ratchet believed none should have to suffer at the hands of Decepticons.

"Just stay quiet and out of the way. We've got too much on our hands to be dealing with sparklings too," Ratchet told them and moved over to Sunstreaker as Sideswipe sat next to the table, waiting for his brother to be repaired.

They had been practicing a new move for seekers, especially one for Starscream when they heard he had attacked Bumblebee the battle before the most recent one, but the said seeker never appeared before them and instead tired it on Skywarp. The effect on the seeker was amazing, the effect on the one attempting the move was not as Sunstreaker found when he landed just the wrong way and pretty much smashed all one side of his body to the point where he couldn't move his left arm or leg. While Ratchet was sure to reprimand them of the reckless move, the twins couldn't help but be impressed and were discussing on ways to improve it. However, they were disappointed to hear that the screamer had been found offline with the slag beaten out of him and was now happily in the brig. The twins had been trying to find the ones responsible to ask exactly how it happened but none had confessed to them. Also, they had found Bruticus a few yards away from the seeker, in a better condition but no doubt offline from the same mech or femme that took care of the seeker. Who ever worked that battle was sure to earn heaps of respect from the twins and most soldiers on board. Seekers were hard fraggers to take out from the ground and Bruticus was sheer force and bulk making him more a match in the league of Ironhide and Optimus. Even Jazz would have his Special Operations aft handed to him on a plate with such a battle.

A few breems later, as Ratchet moved to work on Acree, Sunstreaker would need surgery later on, Optimus and Ironhide were flanking the youngling when he groaned and onlined his optics.

"Wow, Mirage, that was one pit slaggin blast," he said, sitting up slowly, not really seeming aware of his surroundings.

"Take it easy," Optimus said, pushing Bumblebee back down to the bed, "let Ratchet scan you over before you start moving around."

"Optimus? What happened? Where am I?" he asked, not resisting being laid back down as his frame was already complaining for him to do so. Then he didn't care about anything else as it slammed into him exactly what happened, "Mirage! Is she alright?"

"Bee," Ratchet said, rushing over, "calm down and look to your left."

Bumblebee visibly relaxed as he saw her sharing the same space as him. It must have meant the med bay was pretty full.

"She'll be fine, just recovering as you need to be. That was no simple backlash. From what I can tell, you two got knocked around pretty badly by the shock wave of the discharge's repercussion in such a confined space since the energy had no where to dissipate safely," Ratchet told him as he pulled out his scanner, "On top of that you have previous injuries from battle."

Bumblebee shifted uncomfortably. He didn't really feel replaying his fight with Starscream but Ratchet gave him no relief. The medic set his scanner down and looked the youngling in the optics.

"We found Starscream and Bruticus not far from where you two where found a couple orns later. Bruticus had been knocked out simply with the pinches of wires a medic would know while Starscream had suffered significant damage severe enough that required my looking after. At first look to the scene, one would assume two had fought side by side to take these down, possibly First Aid and his companion during the time of the battle, Bluestreak, but when I looked into it further I could tell that Bruticus had been knocked out long before Starscream meaning the one who took out the large Con then fought the seeker."

Bumblebee looked away and twisted his hands in anxiety. He feared what this could do. The others would think him a freak for something so small to take down two ruthless Cons. Also, what about his fellow espionage friends? Wouldn't they hate that he was giving the appearance he was better than them because he could fight? No, Bumblebee didn't want credit.

Curious, Ratchet watched the youngling's expression, confused to how Bumblebee was reacting to his discovery and solidifying the fact it had been the youngling, but he wondered why the mech was refusing to accept the recognition. Still, Ratchet continued, hoping that maybe the youngling would say whatever was bothering him once he was done.

"Bumblebee, I know the nasty work of Starscream's daggers and I know that the injuries on your frame match the work of the seeker's hand. It was you who took down Bruticus and Starscream."

Optimus watched and felt as Bumblebee's anxiety grew to a breaking point when Ratchet finally got to the end of what he was saying. The youngling pulled himself into a protective ball, hiding his face as his spark flared dangerously enough to give a warning to Ratchet's monitors.

"Bumblebee, what's wrong?" Ratchet asked immediately as he pulled out the scanner again but it wasn't getting good readings because of how the youngling was bunched up. Despite all efforts, Bumblebee wouldn't say any thing as Ratchet tried his best to talk to the youngling until Optimus held up his hands to stop the medic and leaned close to Bumblebee, wrapping his arms around his youngling and allowing his spark to reach towards the young mech's. Instead Bumblebee recoiled from the touch and guilt flooded Optimus' frame. With a gasp he pulled back.

"Optimus?" Ratchet asked in concern when the leader pulled back as if electrocuted.

"Ratchet, I don't know. He feels so much guilt. I don't know why. He's withdrawing," Optimus told him and his spark jerked painfully as Bumblebee pulled even further away. Withdrawal was extremely painful for those sharing sparks in anyway, especially bonded.

"Withdrawing?" Ratchet yelped in alarm, knowing this was turning serious, "Bumblebee, listen. Nothing is your fault. There is no reason to feel guilt."

Bumblebee said nothing but his head nodded up and down that he thought differently.

"Then tell us, what is it? We can help."

"You'll hate me," he whispered and all three mechs surrounding him stiffened. Where was this coming from? Their poor youngling was torturing himself to thinking he was responsible for something they didn't even understand. None of the many frantic attempts to pull the youngling out of his depression and withdrawal seemed to work, and they were soon giving up until Mirage woke.

"Ouch," Mirage groaned, putting a hand to her head and letting her optics come on line, unlike Bumblebee, she didn't get the luxury to see the nasty explosion from her cannon before it all went dark.

Frustrated, Ratchet went over to check on the femme.

"What's going on?" she asked, sensing Ratchet's anger and seeing Bumblebee sitting up in the bed, holding himself together as if he was falling apart.

"Bumblebee is wi…" Ratchet began but caught himself, realizing that Optimus had never given him such a privilege to reveal the sensitive information, "Bumblebee is feeling guilt for something we do not know and won't tell us what it is."

Mirage frowned as she thought over it while Ratchet ran a scan over and by the time he was done she knew what to do.

"Ratchet, I need trust right now. Can you leave him and me alone? Just the two of us?" she asked.

"I'll try anything," he told her with a nod.

A few klicks later, Optimus and Ironhide were shooed away by Ratchet and the medic pulled the curtain back, covering them from view. Mirage moved slowly, her frame feeling as if she lost a fight against a garbage crusher, and slipped onto Bumblebee's bed. The youngling felt her presence and Mirage knew he did but chose remained quiet. Bumblebee needed to make the first move no matter how long it took. Thankfully, due to the many vorns of personal training and close interaction during his younglinghood, Bumblebee came to think of Mirage almost like a big sister, and little brothers could tell big sisters anything with the absolute trust she wouldn't go running off to tell wrench-wielding CMOs his problems without his permission.

"Mirage, I'm sorry," he clicked, falling into the basic form of Cybertronian language that was only used by newly created sparklings and a handful of older mechs and femmes. It was because of this, espionage agents kept the language as their own for sensitive information or just code between two fellow agents.

"For what?" she asked back, easily falling on to the clicks and whirrs of a sparkling.

"I can't blame you if you hate me," he clicked quietly.

"Bee, why would I hate you?" she asked softly, using mostly low whistles to show she was calm and not angry with him. Another trait of the basic Cybertronian, emotion was highly entwined into the language; it kept fellow agents from lying to each other.

"Because," he clicked harshly and subconciously added a few loud whirrs from stress, "I've made it seem all espionage agents are below me because I took down Starscream and Bruticus."

Mirage jerked back from the shock. She hadn't expected this at all.

"No," she whistled softly, recovering quickly from the suprise, "we wouldn't think that at all. Instead we would be proud to have such a warrior in our ranks. It shows the others to not underestimate what we can be capable of."

Finally he looked up, searching for the truth in her words. When he found concern and compassion as well as pain for his self-torture visibly displayed on her face, he crumpled forward and Mirage took him in her arms. Such a young mech to deal with the times of war, it didn't seem fair at times but she knew well Bumblebee was strong and just needed a moment to pull himself back together.

"Now, was that what all this silliness was about?" she asked when he pulled back.

"Yes, I just didn't want you guys to hate me. I don't think I could live with it if I had none of the other agents want to train with me again, or you," he said, looking at her with his bright baby-blue optics that never seemed to dim in the worst of times. It would be a sad orn indeed if the bright light in the optics of their hope for the future darkened.

"Do you need a few more moment before I call Ratchet back in here?" Mirage asked and Bumblebee nodded, she knew him so well. Mirage laid a gentle hand on his arm before slipping off the bed and moving slowly out of the area to give him some privacy.

The youngling sighed loudly once Mirage was gone. Some times, it was good to have someone to lean on and understand that there were times when he just needed to drop the adult front and be the overwhelmed youngling he truly was hidden deep in his spark. What was better was that Mirage held no ill will against him and understood perfectly what he was going through. She said it was the burden of an espionage agent since they had to train from a very young age and on top of that, Bumblebee was the last of their race: the youngest Cybertronian throughout the universe. He gave himself a few breems to his thoughts before he let out a few low whirrs and a soft whistle since Bumblebee knew Mirage would be nearby listening for the cue to come back. Unfortunately, Ratchet happened to be sitting next to Mirage and heard the youngling.

"Bumblebee!" he scolded, entering with Mirage behind him throwing him an apologetic shrug to the youngling, "Did you just reform back to sparkling Cybertronian speak?"

"Uh," Bumblebee said, unsure what to do next.

"Interesting, so you're one of the few who have retained the ability naturally," Ratchet said, his attitude quickly changing to joy.

Mirage snickered and gave another shrug as if to say 'play along with the CMO least wrenches start flying again.'

"What's going on?" Optimus asked coming in with Ironhide on his heels.

"It seems Bumblebee is a natural sparkling guardian," Ratchet said and Optimus froze. Such a title was considered a prestige honor and given to the mechs who truly, unlike Bumblebee, Mirage, and other espionage agents, did retain the language throughout life.

"No!" Bumblebee said, "I'm not. I just remember the one word!"

"Nice try. When it is forgotten, it's forgotten completely. The only ones who do have to learn it are medics like myself. I can't believe our little youngling is a destined guardian," Ratchet said.

Bumblebee frowned miserably as Mirage tried her best not to laugh at the lost look on the youngling's face.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" Ratchet whirled and clicked.

Bumblebee looked back at Mirage for how he should proceed, but she just shrugged again and so the yellow mech gave in with a nod. Ratchet literally jumped up in happiness.

"The last natural guardian we found was Silverbolt, which is why he took in Fireflight," Optimus stated, smirking at the unusual behavior of the medic.

"Then how come I got Hide when he doesn't know the difference between up and down in the language?" Bumblebee asked.

"At the time, the age that you were was too young to be apart of the youth sectors so we believed you still had family out there, little did we know our leader was hiding the truth, but it still worked out since you were Prime's little brother," Ironhide answered and Optimus shifted uncomfortably for a moment but none seemed to notice movement but Bumblebee. There was something the leader was hiding.

"Alright, so what now? Am I suppose to go sparkling hunting even though the only I will find is myself?"

Ratchet immediatly frowned.

"He has a point," Optimus said, "There are no younglings to guard any more."

"I don't know. Maybe it's a sign things will change in the future," Ratchet said hopefully.

"Yeah, or more likely our race keeps developing not realizing its ultimate demise," Ironhide muttered and the mood instantly turned sour as everyone stared at him silently.

"Congratulations, Hide," Bumblebee snapped, "you've effectively taken hope and destroyed it."

Ironhide jerked as if punched as he finally realized what he had done and hung his head in shame.

"Don't beat yourself up," the Autobot leader said, surprised at Bumblebee's sharp retort, "we've been at war for so long it's too hard to keep optimism going."

"Well, if that's all," Bumblebee interrupted, "can I get some rest? I feel like slag and I know Mirage is hurting too."

"Bee's right," Ratchet agreed, believing the surprising dark attitude of the youngling was due to his recent stress and ignored it, "I don't know why I thought it a good idea to let you two in here and drain his energy. You two get out; Mirage, in bed. Now!"

The espionage femme was more than happy to agree as she laid down into the bed instantly falling to recharge while Ironhide and Optimus reluctantly left.

"I'm going to put you in stasis so I can get to work on that arm. That dagger looks like it got in deep and did some nasty damage. Just relax and I'll be here when you wake," Ratchet told Bumblebee, preparing the meds to take him offline.

"Thanks Ratchet," he slurred just before he sank off.

Bumblebee woke the next orn feeling much better and saw that his arm look almost new except for the thin slice along his armor that Ratchet didn't have the parts to replace. It would have to wait till the next shipment and until then, Bumblebee would have to live with a battle scar along with the nasty hole in the back of his shoulder. He looked over and saw that Mirage was gone. She much have woken before him and left silently returning to her duties or another off-ship mission.

"Hello, Bee. How are you feeling?" Ratchet asked. He had luckily been checking over the monitors to catch the youngling coming online.

"Quiet well. All there is, is the uncomfortable feeling of the energon draining from my main line."

"To be expected and be prepared to have to deal with it for a long while. It will steadily lessen over time till it is completely healed. Now, how is your arm and shoulder? I worried you might have some lingering soreness since it wasn't attended to immediately," he asked and ran his hands over Bumblebee's shoulder/neck junction where he ran into the seeker and femme, "I've seen this type of damage before, did you tackle some one?"

"Yeah, twice. First I tackled Starscream to take him down and then Mirage to get her out of the way from the Decepticon shooting at her back."

Ratchet was surprised at the fact the smaller than an average sized mech, Bumblebee, had found a way to take down a much larger Con with a simple hit. He really wanted to go over the videos with Red Alert and see if the fight managed to be recorded. There still hadn't been opportunity to see what the youngling looked like in action.

* * *

This chapter is just a good chance to slow down, catch a breather and fill in some emotion needs to continue on.

For Barricade fans, I've gone through the story again and it seems Cade's appearance is soon to come on Nightspark. *shouts for joy* \o/ ~ahem, excuse me~ Anywanys, he should be here around chapter 15 so that's 6 chapters away! Just a little longer folk.

Please review and check out my other two stories.


	10. Recovery

"There are a few rules to address before Bee can leave," Ratchet growled before Ironhide could dart out of the med bay with the youngling.

"Aww, Ratchet, come on. Isn't he good to go?" Ironhide complained and shot a glare Jazz's way when the saboteur chuckled.

"No. Primus, Ironhide, just listen and you two are good to leave," Ratchet sighed using all the will power he possessed to not just pick up a wrench and chunk it at the black mech's head.

The guardian grumbled as he directed his charge back to a chair and stood by Bumblebee, waiting, with his arms crossed, clearly not happy about having to learn more medical instructions. Medicine wasn't his strong point. Period. So why force such knowledge into him? One look at his recovering charge was his answer.

"Ironhide, his instructions could be important. It's best we all listen to them," Optimus said, having to suppress a chuckle at his friend's antics. Everyone knew the black mech hated the med bay and fought any excuse to remain longer than needed. A quick glance at the youngling showed the old warrior was rubbing off some of his beliefs onto his charge as the small mech squirmed impatiently.

"Thank you Optimus. Now, I don't want to hear a single word from you, Ironhide, lest you wish your aft welded to my floor during your next scheduled scan," Ratchet threatened before picking up from where he was interrupted.

"Fine, whatever," Ironhide muttered and Bumblebee smacked his guardian's leg to get him to shut up so they could get out faster.

"Thank you Bee. Now, all of you listen closely since you will be the few mechs close by him till he is healed, Jazz, I expect you to repeat this information to the twins, Mirage, and Blur."

"You got it Doc."

"Alright, first things first, Bee will be on light duties only. If I hear even a whisper of him even thinking about training I'll make sure all your afts have an extra exhaust port. Do I make myself clear?"

Jazz, Optimus, and Ironhide nodded swiftly. It would be one term they wouldn't mess up on. Satisfied that his threats were being taken seriously, Ratchet continued, "Bee, you're still losing a fair bit of energon so you'll need twice as much as normal. Don't drink double the amount or you'll just give yourself energon toxicity. Instead you will have some after recharge, five joors later, five joors till your usual recharge time, and just before recharge. Understand?"

Bumblebee nodded, that seemed simple enough.

"There is no argument on the next condition: you will recharge here in my med bay every orn till I find you stable enough to be out of my supervision. I will not have you alone on this ship or during your recharge."

The thought of being constantly surrounded by pestering mechs was horrible to Bumblebee. The youngling groaned.

"Primus, Ratchet, is there anything else?" Jazz snickered, "I think you might have forgotten to chain a medic to him."

Ratchet ignored the silver mech and stayed focus on Bumblebee; he wasn't done yet.

"Listen well, Bee. If there is another attack, you will stay out of battle. Do I make myself clear?"

"Good luck with that," Jazz snorted, again interrupting the CMO but before Ratchet could retaliate Optimus cut in.

"What?" he asked, not understanding what his third in command meant.

"I'm just speaking from observation, Sir. Bumblebee has an unusual talent for getting into the thick of things," the saboteur explained with a shrug holding his hand up in defense.

"He's right," Ironhide sighed forgetting Ratchet's orders from a moment ago, and yet again the medic's reply was postponed as now Bumblebee cut in.

"Look, Ratchet, I'm not going to stand by while the Autobots get attacked right in front of me."

Ratchet glared at Jazz as if the mech put those exact words in the youngling's mouth. Bumblebee may not like having to sit on the sidelines, but Ratchet was not going to risk the youngling's life by having him fight in an unstable condition. Just as he was about to let every mech in the room know of the uncompromising position, another mech walked in.

"Don't worry Bee will be well protected," Mirage said as he walked through the doors to the medbay. "No doubt all the Autobots will take your orders to heart and he'll have a hard time separating any off duty mechs from him, much less the ones assigned to watch him."

Bumblebee groaned again as he was reminded that he would be constantly smothered until completely healed, which was a long time in coming. This time Optimus didn't stop the chuckle as he knew what the young mech was thinking.

"Can't you just put me offline till I'm good to go?" Bumblebee asked, almost begging.

"What?" Ratchet asked, surprised, "I think my terms are perfectly acceptable."

"Of course you would," Ironhide muttered and Ratchet glared at him.

"Alright, if that's all then I'll let you two get out and moving, and the rest of you to whatever you were doing before or are going to do," Optimus said, confident that the youngling was finally going to be alright.

"Wait one more thing. Everyone on the ship needs to be warned about his condition. I don't need dozens of mechs rushing in here when Bee coughs up energon. I only want to be notified of a bad attack but by then whoever is with him better already be on the way or else."

"Will do, Ratchet. I'll notify the ship immediately. If you will excuse me," the Autobot leader said, giving them all a small bow and swiftly leaving.

Optics following the large mech out of the room, Bumblebee looked back over to Ratchet for permission to finally be free. With a reluctant nod from the CMO, the youngling hopped out of his seat and darted to the door forgetting guardian and friend behind in his rush.

"C'mon Bee, it's not that bad to be locked in there with the Hatchet, is it?" Jazz asked but the only answered he received was the identical look of horror from both guardian and charge.

"Hmm, how about we go get some energon before reuniting with the crew?" Jazz offered breaking the two medic-fearing mechs out of their ridiculous reactions and giving them something else to think about. Not waiting for an answer, the silver mech turned and left quickly followed by the two.

Ironhide chuckled as he watched his charge follow behind Jazz practically vibrating with energy and anticipation from finally being out of the medbay free to move around and both older mechs knew he wouldn't care where he went first. All that mattered was that he was out.

"So Bee, what's our first stop on the list? The rec room?" Jazz questioned while watching the yellow mech observe the hallway as if he hadn't seen it in vorns.

"Sure! But only if it's not crowded."

"No worries Bee, I'll just get Hide to toss 'em out on their afts if they refused to go," Jazz replied with a wink his way before resuming their walk.

Bumblebee looked to his guardian to see if the saboteur was speaking the truth, but with an impassive shrug from the black mech the youngling was left to wonder.

Soon the three mechs reached their destination and entered the room expecting an immediate reaction to Bumblebee's presence however instead they were greeted with multiple backsides as all those present were absorbed in some holo-vid. Sharing a curious look, they crept forward for a better look as to what was so interesting.

Ironhide instantly knew it was some sort of fight scene until he realized those fighting looked oddly familiar. Then it clicked, this was the recording, most likely stolen recording, of Bumblebee's fight with Starscream. Primus, was that really caught on the cameras? Instantly captivated by the video, the guardian was unable to look away as the small yellow mech crashed into the much larger seeker signaling to those watching that the battle had just begun.

Frag, he didn't want to see this, he didn't want to watch but his optics were refusing to listen as they remained trained on his charge watching every move, watching every detail, watching every second. But even as he watched he couldn't believe it. So long had he fought against his charge being trained that never had he known or seen just what skill Bumblebee had developed. All this time he was sure Sunstreaker and Blur's details of the battle before the last had been exaggerated but now he was shown otherwise and it had been far from giving his youngling fair justice. It was incredible and nearly perfect in execution as the small mech fought so brutally yet so precisely against the very seeker that was in the brig currently.

He nearly cheered and laughed along with his companions at the Decepticon as the seeker hopped around on one leg for a moment due to the yellow mech's quick ability to improvise and cause effective damage. However, seconds later, his cry of outrage roared over the hisses and curses spat from the others as the seeker slammed a dagger down on the yellow mech's shoulder though relief flooded his frame as the second was unable to make contact. Still he continued to watch in shock, hardly believing that this was truly the same mech that he had raised for so long until finally the last blow from Bumblebee fell and finally Starscream was offline.

The holo-vid clicked off and for a long moment no one moved starting at the blank space in front of them trying to process everything they had just seen until interrupted by Jazz's comment behind them.

"Primus Bee, where the frag did you learn that?" he asked drawing everyone's attention to the youngling finally noticing that their little warrior was present.

"Uh…" he tried to answer but couldn't. In truth no one had particularly taught him exactly what he had did. He had just known what to do, how to fight and keep it up. Of course he had been trained, but most of that fight had been purely his ability to improvise instantly and not hesitate. Everything else he couldn't provide an answer for.

Not hindered by the youngling's awkwardness Blur darted over and wrapped an arm around Bumblebee's shoulders with a smile, "how/ya/doin'/youngling?"

Still unable to formulate a response he looked around in surprised as more mechs got up and started coming closer buzzing with questions and comments. Quickly becoming too overwhelmed, Bumblebee shrank back until he knocked into something much larger. Before he could see just what it was, a comforting hand dropped on his shoulder and he relaxed knowing his guardian was there behind him.

"Alright you slag heads, back off. Give him some room. He needs to rest and all the nagging isn't helping you annoying afts," the black mech growled quietly his warning clearly being heard by the others.

Mech instantly scattered not wanting to be a part of Ironhide's legendary way of dealing with agitation. Taking it as a cue that he was free again, Bumblebee moved over to the couch and sank down on it wearily. Just that small time frame of excitement had already tired him and he tried to give his guardian a reassuring smile as Ironhide watched him with concern.

"I'm fine," he told the weapon specialist knowing just what the mech was thinking.

Taking a moment to decide if he should believe his charge, Ironhide nodded and sat next to him, "alright, just, take it easy."

For a short time Bumblebee relaxed on the couch next to Ironhide but he couldn't keep his composure and squirmed restlessly under the stares directed towards him and the barely audible whispers onlookers were passing back and forth between each other. He hated being the center of attention and was grateful the larger mech next to him quickly caught onto his unsettled demeanor and offered an easy way out of the situation.

"Hey, it's been a while since ya seen Wheeljack, want to give him a visit? I know he's been working on something new."

Jumping at the opportunity to leave the room and the dozens of mechs behind, Bumblebee nodded eagerly and hopped up instantly to leave. Ironhide grinned and motioned to Jazz to stay. The youngling didn't need both of them at the moment.

"Slow down Bee," he called after the yellow blur that darted from the rec room and found his charge waiting in the hallway with an impatient _tap tap_ of his foot on the floor.

"You should look into getting lessons from Blur too, he'd speed ya up Hide. You're too slow," Bumblebee commented with a smirk.

"Hush it youngling. I'm built for a fight you've got speed for a reason. Now go on, just try to not leave me behind," he replied with a shake of his head.

Thankfully the young mech did keep at a pace Ironhide could handle but as soon as they reached the medic/scientist's room he could not wait and darted in.

Not new to being barged in on or sudden appearances, Wheeljack took a moment to finish up what he was doing before looking up and noticing it was Bumblebee who had entered.

"What a pleasant surprise. I heard you were up and about," he said with a grin, studying the brightly colored mech, "you do look so much better."

Waving him off, Bumblebee moved over next to him and looked over the various items scattered over the table, "what are you working on now?" he asked.

Optics brightening, Wheeljack began rambling off his newest invention to the youngling knowing well that the small mech would gladly listen and ask questions about it, something it seemed many feared to do since only a handful dared to approach his room/lab.

Confident that his charge would be fine here for a long while, he left them be.

For the rest of the orn, Bumblebee remained in the scientist's lab, entertained and occupied by being allowed to help Wheeljack with some of his latest ideas while also learning a few things here and there. However, unnoticed by the medic, Bumblebee's subtle grimaces and winces remained unknown as the youngling never voiced his pain. Yet, when Ironhide returned he instantly could sense something was wrong and swept his charge out of the room, herding him towards the med bay and cursing every step of the way. He had fraggin forgot Bumblebee's energon and the youngling had probably been on his feet since he had left which was something he shouldn't being doing.

"Bee!" he yelled as the youngling suddenly stumbled into the wall and doubled over.

Taking a long moment, the youngling didn't say anything before finally straightening up and looking at his guardian with dim optics making his exhaustion very obvious. He need recharge and soon. Guilt punched the weapon specialist hard as he knew this was his fault for not paying attention and forgetting the youngling's needs.

"I'm sorry Bee; I forgot you needed energon and rest. C'mon, we're almost to the med bay," he said, pulling Bumblebee to his side to give him added support.

"Don't worry Ironhide…I'll be fine," he muttered quietly and managed a smile but it didn't quite fit and he definitely didn't deny the help from his guardian as they headed back.

/…/…/…/…/…/…/…/

"Ironhide!" Rachet screeched and stormed into the rec room.

The black mech winced while the few Autobots occupying the room as well looked up in alarm, all ready to rush out to escape the Hatchet yet their only route blocked by the said medic so they resorted to cowering in their seats, praying he only was going for Ironhide.

"What were you thinking?" Rachet yelled as the weapon specialist finally stood up and moved over to him slowly. He knew well the source of the medic anger; after all, he had dropped his charge off and literally ran in hopes of escape the scenario he was in now.

"I dropped him off with Wheeljack and forgot," he tried to explain.

"That is NO excuse! You brought him back exhausted and nearly deprived! How the FRAG do you expect him to recover if he doesn't heal PROPERLY?"

Ironhide flinched.

"I put those rules there for a reason," he continued, the wrench waving threateningly over head, "his systems need rest and constant refuel from the loss of energon. Fraggit Ironhide, just because he tried covering for your sorry aft doesn't mean it worked, not when I saw the condition he was in. He fell into a deep recharge as soon as he hit the berth!"

Wide blue optics snapped up and stared at Ratchet in shock, he didn't think the youngling had been that taxed.

"Yes!" he growled knowing what the weapon specialist was thinking, "if it happens again, I swear to Primus that your pit-be-damned aft will be in a pile of scraps so useless not even a DRONE could use you for spare parts!"

Even the other mechs cringed at the threat. They knew well that out of all bots to say such, only their CMO would be sure to stay true to his word. Especially after the time Sunstreaker had push the Hatchet one too many times and after an unscheduled visit in the med bay, he found himself flying backwards the next time he had fired his cannons.

"Will he be alright?" Ironhide asked.

"At the moment he is on an energon drip that'll last throughout his recharge cycle with a light sedative that will hopefully ease any pain he has. Next time try to be more attentive Ironhide, I don't need to tell you that he's suffered enough."

With a nod from the black mech, Ratchet left.

"What are you slag heads looking at?" Ironhide roared as soon as the medic was gone and when he noticed every mech was still watching him.

They jumped and frantically went back to what they were doing not wanting to risk frustrating the weapon specialist's further. NOW they knew for certain where the youngling got his hidden temper from. Being surrounded by Ironhide and Ratchet for all of his life, the well known anger had to rub off eventually not to mention the newly revealed fury that their commander had been hiding.

/…/…/…/…/…/…/…/

Mirage watched the small mech in frustration. Not long ago, Ironhide had dropped Bumblebee off and left as soon as the youngling was on the berth. Thankfully the young mech had fallen into recharge almost immediately yet she didn't need Ratchet's curses to know her pupil was in pain as his frame was still tense.

Coughing roused her from her thoughts and she looked up when the medic came over, hearing it as well.

"Primus Bee," he muttered, "I was hoping you would stay in recharge."

Not giving the small mech a chance to speak, he quickly checked his vitals and hooked up a fresh energon drip.

"I'm fine. Please don't be made at Ironhide. It's not his fault," Bumblebee said hoping to get the medic to believe him.

"Hush youngling," Ratchet growled, "you can't cover up for him this time. It was his responsibility to watch over you."

Refusing to give in, Bumblebee shook his head stubbornly and thought of how to get the CMO to listen. Watching, Mirage probably should have been proud of the young protégé's silver-tongue as he calmed down the hatchet and explained smoothly his version of what happened, and she was certain Ratchet was going to let it finally drop until suddenly the youngling curled up in pain as he choked again on more energon. The fire returned to the medic but Mirage didn't blame him. She too wanted to rush out and give Ironhide a true piece of her processor for being such an idiot.

"Stay with him," Ratchet growled and left the med bay.

"That was some nice talking," Mirage said settling down again after a moment, "too bad it didn't work."

With a defeated sigh, Bumblebee could only shrug dragging a chuckled from the femme.

"Try and rest Bee, you need it," she added but with a shrug from him the femme knew well it was going to another long orn.

"How is he?" Ratchet asked quietly upon his return expecting to find Bumblebee offline but his spark sank when he saw those baby blue optics still lit up brightly.

"Mirage, you should go," he sighed, "you don't want to stick around for this and I won't be recharging myself for some time so I can handle it."

"Are you sure? I don't mind."

"Thanks Mirage, but really, it's not something you're going want to remember," Rachet said slowly, prepping more energon in case of an emergency. The exhaustion that filled Ratchet's optics for what was to come unsettled Mirage and despite her programming screaming at her to remain, she left. Outside she was stopped by running into Optimus as he tried to enter at the same time of her departure.

"Prime! Excuse me sir, you startled me."

Optmius looked at the spy in surprise. Nothing caught the femme off guard; she had to be extremely distracted for such. He wondered what was so troubling.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Rachet asked me to leave. I was struggling with the issue if I should argue with him to stay and help."

"Help? Is something wrong?"

"Bee. He came back and can't recharge, his attacks are interfering," she answered while leaving the part with Ironhide out. The commander would find out later.

"Get some rest Mirage, it's an order," he told her after thinking for a moment. It was the least he could do as he knew the internal conflict the femme was currently fighting.

Entering the med bay, Optimus made his way over to where his CMO was hovering over the youngling, his hands working on something minor on Bumblebee's arm.

"Optimus!" Bumblebee exclaimed in surprise while sitting up but he fell back the next klick with a groan regretting the action.

"Stay still!" Ratchet snapped pushing his patient back down with a growl.

For a few klicks, Optimus watched, completely forgetting his earlier question but the medic finally answered, "it's another attack due to the stress of fatigue on his systems," frowning he wanted to know more but again the medic beat him to it.

"I don't know if he'll be able to recharge. All the other times he didn't, but one can hope. Son of a scrap slaggin fragger, I'm going to tear Ironhide a new aft," he growled quietly but the larger mech still heard.

"What about Ironhide?"

"Nothing!" Bumblebee squeaked seeking the opportunity to cover for his guardian but Ratchet silenced him with a glare.

"Now I am suspicious," Optimus muttered and grabbing Ratchet's arm, he pulled the medic away from the youngling, "tell me."

"Ironhide missed two of Bee's scheduled refuel times and because of it he came back extremely worn down and slightly deprived."

"What!" Optmius yelled.

"I already dealt with him," Ratchet growled in response.

"Please…please don't be mad," Bumblebee said, "It was my fault too. I knew when I needed to go, but I didn't tell Wheeljack. It's my fault, not Hide's."

Optimus sighed, the rising anger now dissipating.

"Bumblebee, you don't need to cover for Ironhide. It was his responsibility to watch over you."

"Exactly!" he yelled, "He has been my guardian for as long as I can remember! You think that now, after vorns and vorns have passed he's going to just stop? He made a mistake!"

They all looked at him, surprised by the fierce tone he was emitting and clearly supporting his guardian despite what had happened.

Trying to keep his gaze firm, his determination wasn't enough to keep from having to drop the argument when he dropped back to the berth coughing roughly.

Optimus took a long moment as Ratchet fretted over the youngling before nodding, "you make a compelling argument, Bee. However, I still need to discuss this with Ironhide but I will keep in mind your side before deciding what course of action needs to be taken. Is that fair enough?"

Knowing he couldn't ask for more, Bumblebee nodded then shrank back when Ratchet came towards him with the dreaded tubes.

"I'll keep you updated," the CMO told Optimus clearly telling the larger mech to leave and the commander didn't need to be told twice.

/…/…/…/…/…/…/…/

"Ironhide," Optimus called, as he entered the rec room causing the mechs within the immediate area to freeze again for the second time that orn though their commander did not openly express the same anger as the hatchet did earlier yet they knew it was serious when the black mech flinched in response and stood slowly.

"We need to talk," he said, "now."

"That's twice now; both Ratchet and Prime have come for Hide. What did he do?" Hoist asked the mech next to him as they both watched the two depart from the room silently.

"I think it has something to do with Bee. Sunny said he saw Mirage leaving the med bay earlier and she was furious, "Sideswipe speculated.

"Well it can't be too serious if Optimus isn't that upset," the young medic pointed out.

"Maybe, or he's waiting till they get to Prime's office to assassinate him."

For a moment they stared at each other before laughing and going back to their game, occasionally guessing what their leader had planned for their weapon specialist.

"Give me a mission then! One that won't be finished till he's healed enough to look after himself," Ironhide growled yet there was a definite tone of misery to his voice.

"I'm not so certain if that's the best course of action," the Autobot commander sighed, "Bee needs you. He holds no blame on your part and even fights for you. If I send you away during this stressful time he'll feel vulnerable and overall it may do more harm than good."

Ironhide looked back up at his commander, the truth ringing clearly in the words of Prime but not allowing himself a second longer to debate it, he shook his head, "then what? I can't get off of something like this without some form of punishment."

"At the moment, I can't think of one. You're also doing a well enough job of beating yourself up so that might be enough this time," he reasoned.

The guardian wanted to argue his point further but with the guilt still dominating his thoughts he dropped it for now until he could sort out a solid support for his reasoning.

"Good, now go. I have work to do," Optimus said when he saw Ironhide was dropping the subject.

Waiting until the black mech was gone, the large blue and red mech dropped back into his chair, folded his hands under his chin, and fell into deep thought about everything that had recently occurred.

/…/…/…/…/…/…/…/

"How are you feeling?" Ratchet asked once the youngling onlined after finally getting some much needed recharge.

"Tired but good," he answered truthfully.

"Alright, first I want you to refuel and then we'll discuss the possibility of your release afterwards."

Snatching the cube from Ratchet, the youngling downed it quickly for two reasons, both because he desperately needed it and also because the bright hope of speeding up the process of escaping the med bay. He was nearly finished when his guardian walked in. Trying to ignore the harsh glare from the CMO, Ironhide made his way straight towards Bumblebee.

"Hey Hide!" the small yellow mech greeted cheerfully, pausing for a moment until Ratchet barked at him, "all of it!"

With an apologetic shrug to his guardian, the youngling finished the energon with one last gulp.

"How are you doing Bee?"

"I'm fine. I promise."

Ratchet snorted loudly as he positioned himself behind the larger mech, arms crossed, and wrench out tapping on arm threateningly.

"If you're fine after that I'll eat my lugnut," he grunted, taking the empty energon container and going over Bee's vitals while somehow managing to shoot sharp glares at Ironhide.

"Rachet, please, a moment?" he asked with a quiet sigh.

With a growl of displeasure, the medic reluctantly left them alone once he was satisfied the youngling was alright.

Waiting till he heard the door closed, Ironhide turned back to Bumblebee, "are you alright and please don't lie."

"Yes Hide. I'm fine, I promise. Just a little tired and sore. Didn't get much recharge though that's why Ratchet's mad.

"It's a little more than that," he grunted.

"Stop blaming yourself."

"You should be blaming me! It's my fault."

"What good would that do? You weren't even there! I knew I needed to refuel but I said nothing. I'm tired of everyone telling me what to do, to try and control my every choice and action! Now when I try to take some control of my life back, you get in trouble. So no! This is my fault!" he argued, sitting up to glare at his guardian.

Ironhide looked at his charge in surprise. He truly didn't believe what Prime had told him about Bumblebee's defense for him.

"I just want everyone to open their optics and see that I'm not a youngling anymore despite how old I am!" he continued trying his best to not yell but he was trying to get his point across to the larger mech.

"I'm sorry Bee. It's just hard. Forever you will be my youngling. I will always want to protect you."

"I can take care of myself," he muttered, looking away.

"So I have learned. Give it time and maybe I can finally accept it."

"More time," he sighed sounding tired, "I stopped being a youngling a long time ago."

The truth of his words burrowed deep into Ironhide's spark though he wished it wasn't so and his voice cracked slightly, "I'm sorry I haven't treated you as such Bee. I'll just always remember that tiny innocent bundle of cute wires you once were."

His charged looked up at him sadly and looked like he wanted to speak but Ironhide beat him to it, "but right now I want to talk to you about something important."

"You're leaving," the youngling cut in. He already knew where this was headed.

"How…?"

"Because I know you as well as you know me. You've done this before and if I try to convince you it's not your fault you'll punish yourself worse," the youngling explained as his guardian stared at him in surprise.

"Ironhide," he continued as the rare use from the youngling of the larger mech's full name made him flinch slightly, "you are a grown mech, a wrecker, and a soldier. You do not need my permission for anything. Yes, I will miss you like I always but I also don't need you to be here every moment to protect me. Just…I hope you don't take too long to realize you are doing this for the wrong reasons.

Slightly floored, the guardian watched the youngling silently. Everything he had tried to plan had instead turned upside down. He honestly hadn't expected such a reaction from his charge. He actually though Bumblebee would beg him to stay, to not leave and cry out apologies for nothing he did wrong. It had happened all the other times but now…now the youngling was doing the exact opposite. For once his charge seemed older and he suddenly wished it wasn't so.

"Listen," Bumblebee wasn't quiet through yet, not when he finally had his guardian's complete attention, "you are my guardian and will always have the greatest respect from me while holding one of the closest spots in my spark. Whatever you decide I will always support you no matter what."

The warrior's optics searched the youngling for a moment before the gruff-tougher-than-reinforced-armor-trigger-happy-weapon-specialist grabbed Bumblebee into a firm hug.

"Bee," he grunted, pulling away a second later, "I want you to keep at your training. Help Prowl with the twins and make sure Optimus doesn't over do it."

The youngling could only nod.

Watching his charge for a moment longer he gave another quiet nod, "look after yourself," and he was gone.

/…/…/…/…/…/…/…/

"Are you sure about this," the larger mech asked for the third time in less than a breem.

The weapon specialist nodded, refusing to speak again since he was tired of repeating himself to the commander.

"Very well. Stay safe Hide. This mission is not to be taken lightly. Come back the same way you left," Optimus said.

With nothing further, Ironhide gave his leader a brief nod and without hesitation turned and left.

* * *

FINALLY...yes I know...FINALLY!

I realized it has been over a YEAR since my last update for this story and I'm soooo sorry for all the readers who have been waiting. Writer's block is truly a curse and thrives on the pleas of others to continue. But no worries because it has been done!

This story should continue to pick up it's pace and hopefully update. The next chapter will be short so I will TRY to have it out BEFORE Thanksgiving but there are no promises. I hope everyone continues to hang in there with me despite the delay and I want to give a special thanks too all those who continued to show support during my long absence. Smokes91 , Bee-alicious , Faecat , TTfanTT , lokkish, obsydiandreams ,Lucky Koi , Brianna L. Random , WavvyTheFur , foxykitsuneyouko , xStarSaber , ponygirl-loves-mcqueen , renegadewriter8 , Loveless427 , and others who are holding in for this story to keep going. Also. A big thank you to Vanillathunder for the continued awesomeness and believing that I could eventually get past that evil block. On top of all that, I must throw out a HUGE thanks to my new review-unoffical-betareader for this story Fire_in_the_Ice. You're a great help and will continue to be!

So stick with me you guys and maybe we can get back on track with this story. Don't forget, Barricade will be making his appearance soon!

Last bit of news, for those who are also following along with To Punish and Enslave, chapter 4 has just been added a few days ago so don't forget to wander over there and let me know what you think!

Please, pretty pretty please review and let me know how Nightspark is doing despite it's long break.

-Stormsailor


	11. Waking Nightmare

New chapter! Finally a new chapter!

So yeah, I had this thing done for about a month...but I finally got the kick in the rear end to put it up but here it is now!

Hopefully you'll enjoy and after the ending surprise I do hope you still stick around for the fallout from this chapter! Also another note, we are only a few chapters away from adding Barricade in! Are you excited because I sure am!

Enough delay, it's time to read! And reviews...pleeeeease.

* * *

"Aww, come on Jazz. Give him some leeway. Bend the rules just this once," Sideswipe whined to his third in command.

"Yeah, even he said he feels fine," the golden twin added.

Trying not to laugh at the duo's newest attempt in trying to free him, the youngling kept his attention focused on the holo showing before him while his temporary guardian fended them off.

"For the last time, no," Jazz answered tiredly.

"When did you get all the fun sucked out of you?" Sideswipe pouted.

"Why don't you two go do something productive for once and leave the kid alone," the saboteur sighed, rubbing his optics in frustration. Sometimes the twins were a bit much for any mech to handle.

Reluctantly they left, shoving each other out the door as they argued about who said the wrong thing.

"Sorry Bee but you really need to keep to Ratchet's guidelines. You're still only twenty orns into recovery and Hatchet says it will take much longer to be fully healed."

"Don't worry about me Jazz. I'm fine," Bumblebee said flashing his infamous smile hoping to change the older mech's attitude.

"Why do I even bother?" Jazz sighed, "come on, it's time for more energon."

"Go relax," he told Bumblebee as they entered the empty mess hall, "I'll get ya a cube."

Dropping into the closest seat, the youngling kicked up his feet on Jazz's chair earning a smile when the saboteur came back and brushed them out of the way before sitting down. Jazz gave Bumblebee a few moments before he started discussing the plans for his training but by the time he got to the details of his returned he paused when he noticed the small mech refused to consume anymore energon.

"What is it?" Jazz asked in concern as he saw the sickened look.

"I'll be right back," was barely forced out in reply followed by a groan as the youngling darted out.

With a heavy sigh, Jazz disposed of the partially consumed energon and followed after his young charge. It seemed recently that this scenario reoccurred at every fueling. First Bumblebee could not handle taking in too much energon and after he ran off Jazz would usually find the poor youngling doubled over and purging up the unprocessed energon. It was infuriating that all he could do was watch while the equally frustrated CMO still searched for the cause behind it.

It took a klick to locate the youngling and for the next breem Jazz stayed with him until his tanks calmed, "I'm fine," he muttered, slowly straightening up even though his legs shook underneath him threatening to collapse.

"Sure ya are kid," Jazz sighed, pulling Bumblebee's arm around his shoulders and supporting him to the medbay.

Ratchet didn't even have to ask as soon as he set his optics upon the two arrivals.

"He still can't keep it down," Jazz told him with another heavy sigh and helped Bumblebee onto his berth.

"I'm fine," the smaller yellow mech repeated, he was getting tired of the older mechs always talking about what was going on with him when he could speak for himself.

"No, you're not," Ratchet grunted, moving to hook up a new energon drip for the youngling, "what you need is rest."

"I'm always fragging resting," he grumbled.

"Language youngling, and hush. You need rest and you are going to get it."

Bumblebee pouted in silence. He knew it would be pointless to further argue against the medic and really he was tired. Tired of the pain, tired of being under constant watch, just tired of being tired. Why couldn't he be better already, or to be able to do a simple task without supervision? However, questioning once again was shoved aside as soon as he spotted the sedative that suddenly appear in Ratchet's hand.

"Do you really have to knock me out," he hated the drugs, they compromised his memories and slowed his reactions.

"Yes, you're systems are too stressed to allow a proper healing recharge," he answered, quickly injecting his young patient while simultaneously cutting short further argument when Bumblebee passed out as soon as the drugs hit his systems.

"Finally," Ratchet sighed and doubled checked over the youngling before leaving him to his rest.

However, the drug wore off faster than intended and within a joor the young spy was sluggishly fighting his way back to the land of the online.

"Ratchet?" he called when he didn't see the CMO right off.

There was a brief sound of shuffling to his right, "Bumblebee," the medic sighed coming into view, "you should be resting."

Ignoring Ratchet, the youngling studied the CMO for a moment. The older mech was completely exhausted, as if he hadn't recharged in orns, which was probably a pretty accurate assumption.

"Are you alight?" he asked quietly.

For the longest moment, Ratchet could only stare at Bumblebee before he shook his head and answered, "you never think of yourself before others do you? You're the one who is suffering still after orns of agony and still, somehow, find it in yourself to worry about me."

Bumblebee could only shrug. Ratchet sighed again, "I'm alright Bee but hold still. I am going to check some of your systems while you are awake."

However, before the medic could get started, he was interrupted by the harsh blaring of the ship's alarms over head followed by Optimus' deep voice rumbling, calmly giving instructions to those listening, "_emergency in the docking station. Require CMO's immediate presence. All other Autobots report to their stations. Decepticon attack is imminent_."

Snarling at the sudden change Ratchet hesitated not wanting to leave his young patient alone.

"Go on," he reassured the medic, "I'll be fine."

Grunting, the CMO knew he couldn't argue otherwise and darted out to answer the call.

As soon as the door closed, the youngling found he had been left to complete silence. Wondering what was happening his imagination ran wild, but even the vivid imaginations of younglings held no competition against full exhaustion as he could remain online no longer and slipped back into recharge. Suddenly, it felt as if he hadn't even closed his optics before they opened in shock to shouting.

"Get him into surgery NOW!" he heard Ratchet bark loudly to the other medics.

Jolting up, Bumblebee wondered just who was being brought into the medbay for treatment and gasped. Ice cold gripped his spark as fear filled him at the sight of the destroyed frame of his guardian was rushed past him. He had never seen the tough old mech so badly damaged before. It couldn't be possible. Not Ironhide. He was too tough, too strong to get hurt. It was a joke, or a prank. It had to be, nothing could hurt Ironhide!

Despite what he believed, despite what he wanted to hope, it was quickly becoming apparent that the universe was set on showing just how destructible his guardian was as the medics frantically worked around the massive black frame of Ironhide.

"First Aid, get the energon lines hooked up now! Hoist, get the charge ready. His spark is fading!" Ratchet yelled as he worked diligently yet still managed to keep his medics in line while being able to spew out a minimum of fifty curses between his orders all at once.

Unable to remain sitting as he watched, the youngling quickly slipped of his berth and silently crept closer. As he approached, Ratchet's cursing increasingly worsened and their activity went from controlled to frantic in a sparkbeat as line after line was connected to the black unmoving frame. Energon stained hands skirted quickly over the large mech flicking smaller drops upon their clean chests and to the ground below, adding to the pooling energon beneath them. They were desperate and the youngling could instantly pick up on their fear as dread tightened its grip even further on his spark until he lost the ability to draw an intake. It was happening, right before his very optics, the nightmare that haunted him all his life was coming true. He had never once told his guardian of the troubling dream but now, now he wished he had! Maybe this could have been prevented, maybe Ironhide wouldn't be here laid out before Bumblebee bleeding and dying as the medics openly displayed their apprehensiveness of the situation, and more clearly, hesitation towards believing anything they did could actually save his life. Only Ratchet held the firm look of determination, refusing to let any hopelessness set in.

First Aid was trying, trying so hard to find the strength in his spark to follow Ratchet's example but the discouraging attitudes radiating from the other two medics had begun to sink into the very core of his frame and near caused his joints to stick as he struggled to keep moving and fighting for Ironhide's diminishing life. The scientists had given in, finally stepping back leaving the two more experienced medics working alone. This wasn't their true profession; they were temporary medics for whenever the CMO became overwhelmed with an onslaught of patients after battles, never before had they been asked to put their sparks on the line while their friend die in front of them despite all they had to a great extent tried to do. Not once had they been asked to be strong and in the time of desolation their sparks had bowed under pressure until they gave up.

Bumblebee flinched as the short beeps of Ironhide's monitored spark began an excruciatingly slow decline and the frost filling his spark trickled out slowly to the very tips of his fingers until every single inch of him had grown stiff, ceasing his unknown shaking. It was then he had noticed a hard silence had filled the room suffocating all those at hand beneath its weight; Ratchet's cursing had ceased. With each beat of his guardian's spark growing weaker, Bumblebee felt himself slipping away, the medics began to fade out of his vision all feeling in his frame was obsolete, just the one sound became his world. In such a short time, the soft delicate beating had become his own lifeline, until…

_Silence…_

_Silence…_


	12. Resurrection

Finally! the LONG overdue chapter! Here it is, I hope you guys are still hanging in there.

* * *

"No!" he cried, darting over to Ironhide's side. Yet, just before he could reach the large mech, something held him back.

"NO!" he screamed again, fighting against the restraint, "not him!"

"Bee, there's nothing we could do. He's gone…" as much as those words tore at Ratchet's spark he knew it was a far worse feeling for the youngling in his arms.

Wails and cries of outrage continued to bleed from Bee's vocalizer as he continued to struggle. However, despite the denial, reality slowly began to set in as the CMO's word sank heavily into his spark until all he could bring himself to do to express his grief was fall to back on the soft clicking from his sparklinghood. Ratchet tried to hold him closer, he tried tightening his grip in an attempt to provide more support, but Bumblebee hardly cared for anything around him anymore. His intense focus upon his guardian's lifeless form superseded the meaningless words the other medics attempted to comfort him with.

How could they understand what he felt, how could they act as if everything would be alright, how could they not see how unfair it was! His guardian had been brutally ripped from him without warning. There hadn't even been a short moment to utter a goodbye. He was not even given the chance to tell Ironhide just what he meant to him. The thought of accepting the truth quickly gave way to a wave of grief-stricken terror and began to sink its ice cold claws deep into his spark. He dropped to his knees without warning and emitted the most horrid spark-shattering how of agony any of the medics had ever known.

Every medic recoiled as the guilt of failure settled heavily on their shoulders. Not only had they lost a great comrade, but they had forever lost the bright energetic sparkling before them. Bumblebee would never be the same again and the loss was so much more acute to them.

Time lost all meaning to the youngling as his scream died; he was unaware of anything anymore. He went without resistance when Ratchet gently picked him up, taking him out while the others carefully cleaned up the warrior, but Bumblebee hardly noticed and the look in his optics dulled to distant and vacant. As soon as he was guided up on a berth, he curled into the smallest ball as possible. He could hear Ratchet talking to him, trying to say something to break through the shock but he didn't care and blocked it all out. Nothing mattered anymore; he just wanted to drift off into recharge and never wake again. Covering his face from the CMO, Bumblebee unwillingly fell into the darkness of nightmares.

He woke later, much later he realized when he saw nearly all the lights of the medbay were off and no medics were present. His mind was already made up before his feet hit the ground; silently he headed back to the room where Hide still remained, though now unstained and far more respectable. The ceremony for his passing would probably be held within the next orn, but for now he would have this moment for himself.

Walking over to his guardian's side, he found himself temporarily at a loss for words. Looking upon the massive mech so still, so silent, it made the pain all too real and a few tears rolled down his face. Pushing back a whimper, he carefully took a black hand within both his own. These hands for war had always been so gentle and caring all his life, they protected him from danger and comforted him during his fears. Each scar could tell a dozen stories and it was only then he would sit long enough to listen to them. Slowly his finger traced over the longest on his palm.

"Remember this one Hide?" he asked the warrior moving to sit up beside him, holding the hand in his lap, "this one was always my favorite."

His finger continued to trace back and forth over the scar as he recalled the story.

"Sparklings are always trouble you said, and I was above and beyond that exception. I had just started crawling and quickly began disappearing from sight. I sent the soldiers into a frenzy looking for me. You were always worried where I was, but you managed to always find me except one time. I was missing and the Decepticons were attacking. You couldn't just go fight without knowing where I was, you knew you had to find me, and as much trouble as I was, you knew exactly where I would end up."

"There I was, in the middle of the battle, confused at the fighting around me. You nearly had a spark attack you said and ran out to protect me," for a second he had to pause again as he choked up, tears free falling from his optics upon Ironhide's hand, "you picked me up with one hand and immediately had to block a Con with your other. You knew it could've taken your hand off permanently but you didn't care. I was your priority; I was all that mattered to you. You wanted to protect me as you have always protected me."

His shoulders shook and his voice grew weaker as he pressed the larger palm to his cheek, "I need you Hide, I still need you to protect me."

Watching silently, Ratchet's spark twisted at the youngling's words. He burned from the inside to help him, to ease the suffering but he couldn't, there was nothing he could do. Ironhide was gone.

For a long while, the youngling grieved alone unaware of the CMO's presence at the door way as he continued quietly reciting all the stories he knew of his guardian from memory until there were no more to say and the tears had finally dried. Knowing he couldn't leave Bee alone any longer, the medic moved forward until the youngling spoke again.

"Hide, I missed you so much already, I wish I understood why Primus has done this to me. He has always told me his plan, made it so clear and I never want to question it but now I don't know what to do. He has stripped you away from me forever and my spark hurts like never before. I can't do this alone, and I feel like blind faith is no longer enough. If I had a chance I would help bring you back no matter the cost. I hate this war and I hate my role in it. I don't want to follow this path, I don't care anymore! I have nothing left to fight for when everyone I love is going to die in the process!"

The youngling tilted his gaze up slightly, as if here were staring straight at some unseen mech before him, "give him back to me," he growled, "whatever the cost, I'll pay it but give him back. To. Me."

Confusion and curiosity gave Ratchet pause as he wondered who the youngling was speaking to until suddenly he realized that Ironhide and Bumblebee were both bathed in a pale blue light that seemed to seep out from within them. Primus…it couldn't be. There was no way this young mech could be speaking directly to Primus and above all, demand action be taken. However, it was clear to the medic that this was a divine event as the anguish and despair was washed from Bumblebee's face and the soft light glowed brighter until it seemed the two different sources from each mech connected into one.

Suddenly, the light grew brighter until it was so strong Ratchet had to turn away as it burned his optics, yet as soon as he did it flickered back to darkness and quickly he looked back. The youngling swayed, falling back as the light suddenly disappeared within him. Quickly, the medic ran forward to catch him before he toppled off the berth. But, before he could reach him a black hand slid around and caught Bumblebee.

Ironhide sat up, holding his exhausted youngling in his arms as he looked up at the CMO, "what happened?" but Ratchet was speechless and could only stare in shock at the resurrected mech.

"You're back," Bumblebee whispered, optics dull, "I brought you back."

* * *

Another big thank you as always to Vanilla for enduring the proof reads, though I'm sure the previews before everyone else make up for any inconvience it may bring!

Well let me know what you guys think! I can't wait to keep going.


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